A Throne For Three
by PrincessAliTheLioness
Summary: After Simba and Nala have triplets;Kopa, Kiara and Kion they have to deal with with three completely different personalities, sibling rivalry, and decide who the next ruler will be. sequel to "The Troubled Prince"
1. Chapter 1

_**Hey **__**there! welcome to the sequel to "the troubled prince" (formerly known as "the prince and the huntress") I decided to chance the name because I felt like it didn't really reflected the essence of the story. **_

_**Anyways on with chapter 1. please don't forget to review!**_

**_love_**

**_-az_**

**Chapter 1**

**-Sarabi's point of view-**

Nala cradled her cubs on her arms as we all looked in awe at the three little balls of golden fur

"Have you decided on names yet?" Mufasa asked smiling

Simba and Nala looked at each other and smiled "well yes, this is Kopa, this is Kiara and this is Kion" Simba answered proudly pointing at each of the newborns

Kopa was the first-born he haves Nala's eyes and his fur is a shade paler than his father's, Kiara was second born and only girl, her fur is a mix of both Simba and Nala, with beautiful orange eyes from in our side of the family as for Kion he looks just like his grandfather with a paler fur, they are all beautiful and healthy little cubs.

Mufasa, Sarafina and I held our grandchildren for the first time smiling ear to ear, we're grandparents now I can't help but to feel old, life has been a trip for me so far.

**Sarabi's story**

**-FLASHBACK/NARRATOR-**

After king Jaffe passed away the Waira pride was left vulnerable and unprotected, queen Amari was heartbroken she had lost her beloved mate, but she had to stay strong for her pride, her son Femi and her unborn cub. A few days after Jaffe's death queen Amari gave birth to a little princess, she named her Sarabi and for a moment she felt blissful maybe her daughter would be the cure to her grief Sarabi had her father's eyes and tanned colored fur, the next day the queen rested in her den cradling the newborn princess while her one year old son slept next to her when one of the lionesses announced a visit from king of the pride lands, king Ahadi was a yellow furred enormous male with a wavy raven mane and lime green eyes, he used to be a regular lion born and raised at the Waira pride as a young adult he left the pride and wandered into the pride lands where he later became part of the royal family, by marrying Uru, the daughter of the former king Mohatu. After hearing about the passing of his childhood friend Jaffe to pay a visit to the widowed queen

"Queen Amari" he bowed his head entering the cave

"King Ahadi" she bowed back

"I have come to personally give you my condolences" he said and then noticed the cub sleeping in her paws "and to congratulate you? Is this the new princess?" Ahadi asked curios

"Thanks for coming, and yes this is Sarabi" Amari smiled at her daughter

"She looks just like her father…" the green eyed king said

The beige lioness sighed and looked "I'm concerned for the future, I know Femi will make a wonderful king someday, but until then we're at risk. There are no other males to protect the pride from rogues and hyenas"

Ahadi listened intently he felt bad for her she was left in a vulnerable situation "I will send young males from the pride lands to give the protection your lands need"

Amari felt a wave of hope and relief enter her body, but restrained herself from showing it she knew the royal protocol established for all debts to be paid, but how could she ever do that? The pride lands were the most prosperous kingdom of all, what could she possibly do to return the favor?

She looked up at him "I appreciate your generous offer Ahadi, I really do but I'm afraid that if I accept it couldn't ever possible pay you back, my lands are insignificant compared to yours" she admitted

"There's not need to Amari, I would do it as a favor" the kind monarch explained

"I'm sorry but it wouldn't feel right to accept it" she sighed

He admired how dignified even in her most vulnerable position ever she kept her head up and followed the protocol it remind him of his father-in-law Mohatu, suddenly an idea came to his mind

"Unless you were able to return the favor somehow?" he asked, Amari nodded silently

"I will help you guarantee the safety of your lands and in return you must betroth your daughter to my son" he offered "Mufasa will need a queen to rule by his side one day"

She looked down at her beloved daughter and considered it for a few seconds. Maybe her daughter wouldn't just be the cure to her grief, maybe she was also the answer to her kingdom's problems.

The queen slowly nodded her head before extending her front paw to shake Ahadi's

"We have a deal then" the king said "I know that Sarabi will make a fine queen one day with your guidance and instruction"

That day Amari was determined to mold Sarabi in to the perfect queen she was taught to walk, speak and think as a queen also trained daily to be the best huntress luckily it all came naturally to her she was a poised and graceful lioness, she knew the reason for her training she knew she was betrothed and she understood her mother's reasons to do it, yet it didn't worked as a consolation she felt trapped, all this time she held back on being her real self always agreeing with everything her mother said resisted the urge to go against her, Sarabi didn't had another choice. Whether she liked it or not she was to marry prince Mufasa, the only thing she could do was enjoy the little freedom she had, the freedom she thought would be completely taken away from her once she became queen.

In the pride lands Prince Mufasa woke up after the rest of his family as usual, today was his second birthday there was something in the back of his mind that was bothering him and his parents noticed when he didn't devour his food as usual and chatted away with his younger brother taka as usual, he just stared away thoughtfully

"He certainly is quiet this morning" Ahadi whispered to his mate

"He looks sad" she said concerned

"Is something troubling you, Mufasa?" the king asked

"You have two sons you know father?" taka said with an eye roll "but of course you are concerned about Mufasa not me, as always"

"Taka!" Ahadi called on his youngest son while the reddish brown teen left, Taka's mood has gotten much worst since it was officially announced that Mufasa would be the next king

"I'll talk to him, you talk to Mufasa" the queen sighed following her green-eyed son

"Now tell me son, is there something wrong" the father asked his first born

"Father, in a year I will have to marry princess Sarabi…" the future king started

"Yes! You must be very excited for that day to come" the current king smiled a fatherly smile

"How can I get excited about a lioness I've never seen?" Mufasa sighed

"We've gone through a lot of trouble to select for you a very fine wife" he had visited the Waira pride a few times before and was more than happy with his choice in his eyes Sarabi was the perfect match for his son "Since she was born, she was taught to walk, speak and think as a queen what could be better than that?"

"What if I don't love her?" the golden prince asked

"Oh Mufasa It's normal to feel anxiety about meeting your queen, you will be pleased by her appearance son, she's very beautiful and in great shape" the king smirked at his son

"Father I don't doubt that she will be beautiful…" the prince said "seeing that you picked her…" he mumbled aware of his father's love for beautiful lionesses "But what if she doesn't love me?

"She will son, what's not to love! You're the prince" Ahadi reassured

"I want to get to know her father if she's the one I'm meant to spend my life and rule alongside with I want to spend some time with her before we're married!" the prince said getting exalted

"I understand, son" whenever he looked at his older son, Ahadi saw Mohatu the wise and noble king that came before him "I'll what I can to get her here"

"Thank you father" The prince smiled and felt relived now he had a chance to experience a real relationship, not just getting married without having said a word to each other.

A week before Sarabi's second birthday a bird messenger arrived to the Waira pride to inform that king Ahadi requested their presence at the pride lands as soon as possible, mother and daughter started her trip on their way to the there.

Once there they met with the king and he explained that he wanted Sarabi to move to the pride lands saying that it would be wise for the future royal couple to have time to get acquaintance to each other, Sarabi and Amari were devastated they thought they still had a year together before the princess had to leave to the pride lands, the time had come Amari had to return to her lands Femi he had grown but he still needed his mother's guidance and advise to rule the kingdom that meant leaving her beloved daughter behind.

Mufasa passed around the den nervously he knew that Sarabi had arrived and that he would meet her any moment now, distracted by passing he didn't hear his best friend Sarafina enter the den

"Ready to meet your Queen-to-be?" She asked in a sing songy voice

"No! I'm too nervous" he sighed "I know I'm the one that asked for her to come earlier but- I don't know anymore!"

"Calm down Mufasa" she said with a giggle

Meanwhile Sarabi the king and queen had an emergency to tend to so she was on her own in a pride full of strangers and now she was about to face the famous prince Mufasa stood outside of the den she was told he was in

"You don't understand how much pressure this is Sarafina" he sighed loudly "my parents are counting on this and I don't want to ruin it"

"Okay calm down big guy breath" Sarafina said making him chuckle after his outburst, Sarafina and Mufasa were best friends but really she was more like a little sister to him.

After Mufasa calmed down Sarabi entered the den, the two friends turned their head on her direction Mufasa's mouth hung open in awe he knew his father had good taste his mother and Sarabi were the evidence to that.

Sarabi was more than impressed by Mufasa's looks, but she shook it out of her mind and remembered her mother's lessons

"Prince Mufasa" Sarabi bowed her head

"Wow!" said Sarafina studying the princess

The tanned lioness felt uncomfortable but she didn't showed it

"You are really pretty" Mufasa's friend got closer to Sarabi's face

"Thank you, miss…?" the princess answered with a sincere smile

"Miss? Oh I'm Sarafina just Sarafina" she giggled

"You're very Beautiful yourself your eyes quite unique Sarafina" the princess complimented the cream colored lioness smiled broadly, Sarabi found herself smiling she already liked this lioness, she hoped they could become friends that way she wouldn't be so alone here

"May I talk to you alone for a moment, please?" the prince's voice pulled her from her thoughts

"Your Highness" the princess replied

"Don't- um Excuse us for a moment?" he looked at Sarafina

"Oh right!" she said getting up to leave "don't mess it up Mufasa, already like her!"

"Well I thought that if we're going to be married, we should talk and get to know each other" Mufasa explained when they were alone

"Ever since I was born, I have been trained to serve you…" Sarabi replied

"I know, but I'd like to know about you, what do you like to do?" The Young male asked

"Whatever you like" the young princess gave the automatic answer her mother taught her

"I know what I like, and you know what I like, because you were trained to know, but I would like to know what you like, so tell me…" he smiled

"Yes your Highness, I-" she was cut off by the prince

"Please, no tittles or formalities just Mufasa and no need to bow, we're equals. The only thing I'm going to ask you to do is to forget your training everything your mother or whoever told you do or how to act, I want you to be yourself because and to give me a chance to show you the real me, okay?" he asked putting his paw on hers and looking at her eye to eye

"Okay…Mufasa" she smiled

Days turned into weeks and weeks into months Sarabi was adapting well to her new pride everyone liked her already, she and Sarafina became close friends whenever Mufasa was on his lessons the two lionesses hung out together this life felt almost as a vacation to the princess no lessons no hunting every day no nagging and critics from her mother, she had to admit it was a charmed life, but not as charming as the prince she liked him very much he was caring and sweet a true gentleman. The prince fell for her fast he thought she was beautiful, smart, and sweet but also funny. He loved seeing how she grew more confortable showing her real self a confident, outspoken and headstrong lioness for the first time she could be herself and be accepted and even loved for it.

Mufasa's third birthday was only a couple of months away now which meant their wedding day will be any day now. The prince and princess sat under the stars, after a while in silence

"Sarabi are you happy here?" He asked

"I guess…" she answered honestly she learned that it was best to do so when she talked to Mufasa, he was very understanding

Mufasa turned to the princess and asked "Sarabi…do you think you will ever love me?" Mufasa was knew that she aware of the feelings he had for her

The young lioness was too embarrassed to admit it she did had feelings for him. She was confused a part of her told her that she could never be happy here just because this was decided for her but not by her. She only sighed and looked away

The prince nodded slowly understanding the meaning behind her silence "then we're wasting our time here"

She turned to look at him with furrowed eyebrows "what do you mean?"

"I really want this to work out, I wanted to be able to give you my trust and gain yours, I wanted to love you to love me for who I am, not because you have to but if you can't then you should go find your happiness and love" he sighed

"But we're-" she started

"Being betrothed to me doesn't makes you my prisoner, you may leave if you wish just make sure to go somewhere my father won't find you" the prince said getting up and walking away his heart broke a little because what he felt for her was love but he didn't wanted to marry her if she only did it as a duty.

Sarabi decided not to leave that night, the following week she didn't see much of the prince, Sarabi felt bad she also found herself missing his company, Sarafina noticed how sad both of her friends looked

"Sarabi why didn't you tell him you love him?" the turquoise eyed lioness asked

"I couldn't lie to him Sarafina…" the princess sighed sadly

"But it isn't a lie, I mean look at you! He haven't spoken to you in a couple of days and you look miserable and depressed" Sarafina said concerned

"I'm not. I just need to find what it is that would make me happy…" Sarabi sighed

"Maybe if you stopped being so stubborn and gave your feelings and him a chance you would find your happiness" the lioness said with a serious face before leaving Sarabi alone with her thoughts maybe Sarafina was right maybe she did loved him as much as he loved her, maybe being with him would bring her the happiness she wished, but she hurt him and didn't knew if he could forgive her still she had to try she got up and went looking for him.

Mufasa expected Sarabi to leave at any time now, so he was preparing to deal with his father he thought it was best to lie and say that he was the one that didn't wanted to marry her so the king wouldn't be mad at her, he walked into the den where his parents were and said "father, mother may I have a word with you two?"

"Yes darling" "go ahead son" the king and queen answered

"I can't marry Sarabi" the prince said leaving his parents shocked

"And why is that?" Ahadi asked

"Mufasa I thought you said you liked her?" Uru asked her son. Meanwhile outside Sarabi walked by the den's entrance and stopped when she heard the royals talking

"I don't" he sighed "please father, I will personally speak to her mother, and find a new bride, just don't make me do this"

Ahadi and Uru looked at each other "all right son the wedding is off"

Mufasa walked out and found a teary eyed Sarabi waiting for him he sighed and tried to avoiding her

"Wait! Mufasa I know I hurt you, and I'm sorry. I don't know why I wasted so much time pretending I didn't care"

The prince stopped and faced her

"But I love you. I'm totally and completely in love with you, and I don't care if you think it's too late, I'm telling you anyway" he looked at her not saying a word for a while "Will you please say something?"

"You should know that...I'm not letting you go after this" he said with a smile forming in his face

"That's good" she chuckled with tears streaming down her face

"I love you" Mufasa leaned closer so he was nose to nose with her

"I love you too" she said giving him a kiss

"I guess we are going to have a wedding after all" Uru said walking out of the den with Ahadi, the young couple nodded happily.

**-END OF FLASHBACK-**

**-Present day-**

**-Sarabi's point of view-**

After marrying Mufasa and being crowned king and queen along came Simba, our prince filled our lives with happiness he grew up fast and he now has taken his place in the circle of life.

In that moment I realized that the den was filled with the ones that meant the most to me, Mufasa, Simba, Sarafina, Nala, Ehsan and now adding to that list Kopa, Kiara and Kion, looking at them I can't help but to wonder what adventures will life bring for the three.


	2. Chapter 2

**hey everybody! I'm so sorry it took me so long to update I really have no excuse this time, I just wasn't inspired to write, but I think it's time to get back at it, I missed it.**

**GuardianSaint : stay tuned for Kopa, Kiara and Kion's adventure!:)**

**zuka4one : I'm so glad you read and like the prequel, I hope enjoy this one as well!**

**thanks for the reviews, please keep them coming!**

**love**

**-AZ**

**Chapter 2**

**-Nala's point of view-**

I didn't have an easy pregnancy, morning sickness, hormones; I was always hungry and/or tired I felt like I had no control over my body or my life really, Rafiki told me to take it easy and to rest a lot, which in Simba's overprotective mind meant not moving a claw,also having someone around 24/7 to "assist" me with the simplest things I decided to go along with what he said, having had a miscarriage before I decided that it wouldn't hurt to be extra careful this time around, in the end it was all worth it for the kings have blessed us with three beautiful healthy cubs Kopa, Kiara and Kion.

I woke up extra early today to feed the triplets; Simba woke up and kissed me

"Up already?" he smiled before he carefully nuzzled our cubs

"Yeah, I wanted to make sure they had their tummies full before I left" I replied, three weeks had passed since I gave birth and I felt good enough to go back to my duties as queen, specially leading the hunts I've missed it and I was excited to get back out there.

"You know you don't have to go…" my husband said, he didn't loved the idea of me leaving the den just yet, but I just knew it was time

"I know love, but I want to" I smiled

"Alright La, but promise you'll be careful" he sighed

"I promise" I nuzzled him, he kept his gaze on the cubs with the same look on his face he had the day after I gave birth and he had to go on patrol, I knew he was worried "they'll be alright" I reassured him

"Of course they will, who better to babysit them than their grandparents" Sarabi said waking towards us with Mufasa and my mom. Each adult grabbed a now sleeping cub in their front paws. I got up from my place and stretched my paws

"We have everything under control here" my mother told us

"Go on, you two the kingdom needs their king and queen" Mufasa said smiling down at the small cub he held, we said our goodbyes before Simba and I left the den there two groups awaited for us

"I'll see you later. Be careful out there, okay?" my king nuzzled me

"I will, I love you" I licked his cheek

"I love you too" he said before each of us went our separate ways

"Okay, everyone let's go" I heard Simba say to the group of males

"Good morning everyone" I greeted the females, almost everyone greeted welcomed me back cheerfully

"It's good to have you back Nal" Kula said with a smile

"Thank you girls, it feels good to be back" I admitted "anything to report?"

"We were having some problems with formations" Raiza answered

"Yeah, the problem is Tika" Tama added, yes Tika the lioness I beat the crap out of before I left my father's pride she was here, after the war against Scar and the fire the lands were completely destroyed and whatever was left of the pride moved back here

"How am I the problem Tama?" Tika growled" most of the lionesses here were friends or got along pretty well with everyone, but Tika was still the same bitchy and annoying lioness

"You never respect formations" Tama replied "You've ruin three major hunts in a row because of that"

"Is that true?" I asked

"Yes, but I have my reasons" she argued

"And what are those reasons?" I inquired

"They changed my position and made me a chaser, running is just not for me" she whined

"Well, you used to be an attacker, but you kept complaining about how the blood got on your fur" Kula said

"Yeah, we had to change your position so you would stop complaining" Raiza added

"Tika, you will stay as a chaser, and I expect you to give the best of you just like everybody else does" I declared

"Whatever, Can we just go already?" Tika said rolling her eyes

The other lionesses growled at her, what I love about these girls is that they never hesitate to put her in her place but today I felt I needed to reminded her that we're not in the Furaha pride anymore and I am no longer that helpless little lioness she would bully and torture

"No, not until I say so" I answered firmly while walking towards her "I'm the leader of the hunting party and queen of the pride lands, you are to obey my commands" she looked away infuriated "and if you don't like I suggest you find another pride that is willing to tolerate a mediocre huntress as yourself" some of the lionesses giggled at her when I said this and it only made her angrier but she nodded in silence

After that I continued "let's go for buffalo today, you know how it goes, we pick one out we corner it, Tama I want you to go for the neck and I'll go for the muzzle the rest of you will use your weight to bring it down to the ground, remember stay away from the hooves and the horns, I want you all in one piece when we get back" they all nodded in agreement

"Alright ladies let's go!" I said leading them towards the herds

It was my responsibility to make sure every hunt was successful we had a lot of mouths to feed, especially after the two prides became one.

**-Sarafina's point of view-**

Sarabi, Mufasa and I were able to relax and enjoy each other's company reminiscing on the times when Simba and Nala were this age and how it took them no time to grow into rambunctious trouble makers, the two always had big smiles on their faces, always laughing and smiling, sadly Nala didn't stay that way after we moved away from the pride lands it wasn't until she and Simba reunited that the real her began to shine through again. We had such a lovely time we didn't even feel the hours pass by; since Simba and Nala became king and queen, Mufasa and Sarabi were able to have some well-deserved free time and since there were so many young females in the pride Sarabi and I are able to rest from hunting on the everyday basis.

The cubs slept happily the whole time, looking down at Kopa I couldn't help but to feel nostalgic a little over four years ago, I was holding my new born Nala like this and now she's a grown lioness, a mother and a queen and not too long I held Ehsan and two years later he's a mature and responsible teen, my thoughts were interrupted when One by one the triplets awoke they started to get fuzzy , they began crying their little ears perked up hearing their mother's voice, Nala hurried inside the den

"Hey everybody!" she greeted ,the tree cubs began meowing and reaching in their mother's direction Nala laid down on the platform while we handed her the hungry cubs "Mommy's back" she cooed kissing each cub as they began nursing "It took a little longer than I expected, were they a handful?"

"No sweetie they slept the whole time, don't worry" I replied she only smiled keeping her gaze on her babies

"How did the hunt go?" Sarabi asked

"We caught two buffaloes" she answered "and I caught a zebra especially for us"

"My favorite" Mufasa smiled

"I know, and Simba's too" Nala chuckled "the girls are bringing it in right now" and as she said that the rest of the pride walked inside the den the lionesses dragging the three carcasses, Tama and Kula dragged the zebra in our direction

"Here you go Nal" Tama said nearing the mother and cubs "How are those cuties doing?"

"They're wonderful, just a little hungry" the queen replied "thanks again for bringing that in for me"

"No problem" Kula smiled at the cubs

"You and Chumvi should have one" I suggested

"Maybe, just one tough" The young lioness shrugged

"Yeah, no of us wants to compete with miss triplets here" Tama chuckled

"Hey!" Nala laughed "they are blessings from the kings above"

"They definably are" Simba's voice added, he greeted all of us before sitting down next to his queen behind him were the rest of the males including my not so little Ehsan and It was nice to observe the little families that formed inside the pride; just to give a quick introduction to the rest of the pride members

There were six lionesses remaining from the Furaha lands, Tika, Shadi and her daughter Raiza were among them, Tama, Malka, Chumvi, Kula, Tojo were real pride landers and were cub hood friends of Simba and Nala. Tojo married Raiza, Malka married Tama, and Kula married Chumvi. The rest of the pride was composed by their mother and or aunts. Since everyone was here we decided to begin our meal, it began raining and everyone stayed inside the rest of the afternoon to enjoy the company of their loved ones.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**-Simba's point of view-**

When Nala and I got married and became the new rules of the pride lands it took us a while before we decided to try to have cubs, we always said it was because we were too busy and overwhelmed with our new roles, but we knew deep inside that the real reason was that we were a little scared to have to go through what we did on her last pregnancy, but now that I look back at it I think that maybe Nala was right and everything does happens for a reason, we were not ready to be parents back then, we really weren't. We both have grown and matured so much and so has our relationship to the point where I know that no matter what life throws at us we'll get through it.

As teen I thought the life I lived was what I needed to be happy, but now waking up to see my beautiful queen and my cubs sleeping peacefully next to me, I know what real happiness is.

Nala slept peacefully while laid on her side with our three cubs curled up against her, everyone else was still asleep I was about to get up to go to the waterhole when I heard meowing, Kiara was crawling in my direction, they've began to crawl around and try walking just recently, I just can't wait to run around the pride lands and playing with them like my father and I used to, I knew Kiara wasn't hungry she just wanted attention, I smiled at my daughter and picked her up carefully setting her between my paws she sat up still a little wobbly and looked up at me with her bright orange eyes

"Hello my little princess" I said softly "did you sleep well?" she only giggled in response "you will talk in to time Kiara I just know it" I can't wait for them to say their first words Nala thinks their first word will be mom and I think it'll be dad "say daddy, DA-DDY"

"Simba?" Nala's voice called

"Good morning love" I greeted

"That's cheating" she protested

"What?" she woke up and I was just talking to her" I laughed "She's an early riser like her daddy" I smiled

"Uh huh, you're just trying to get her to say "daddy" first" Nala chuckled

"Maybe" I laughed, Kopa opened his teal eyes while Kion was still in deep slumber "He sure can sleep" I chuckled looking at my youngest son and putting Kiara next to her brothers

"Last one to go to sleep, and last one to wake up" my queen said

I sat up and stretched "love… I was thinking"

"Uh oh, that sounds dangerous" Nala teased

I shook my head at her laughing, before continuing "I'm going to the Furaha lands today for an inspection, maybe I should take Ehsan with me and talk to him" Nala stared at me for a while in silence, her family had memories there and she was very protective of her younger brother but it was a part of them it was their father's kingdom and Ehsan was the rightful heir to them, we had the discussion before and decided that we would leave it to him to decide whether he wanted to take his place as king or not "I think he's old enough now"

"I think your right, it's time" she nodded slowly

"Would you like to come with us?" I asked

"I-I don't want to leave the cubs for that long" she said tensing up, she has been reluctant to return to the furaha lands since the fire, I guess she just want to leave all that behind her so I didn't insisted.

"Alright love"

after Sarafina gave me her permission I talked to Ehsan and he agreed to come with me

**-Ehsan's point of view-**

Mom always said that we all got what we deserved and it seems to be true like Nala, despite how my father treated her and the fact that he made me his heir instead of her she was always a good sister to me and she was and still is kind to everyone unless you do something to piss her off, in the end doe her goodness paid off cause now she has a happy life in the pride lands, I think that you can also redeem yourself that even if you made mistakes you can change your fate and work for a better life like Simba did, sometimes I wonder if my father got what he deserved , I mean sure he was a powerful king when he died but no one truly loved him, neither Nala or I cried when he passed away not even my mother her love for him dissipated with each of his actions I know what he did to her and my sister and the worst part is that he told me himself without any trace of remorse.

Simba and I were in our way to the Furaha lands today, I remember how scared I was the last time I made this journey the only thing in my mind was finding my sister but instead I ended up being found by Rafiki he led me to the red manned lion who is now my brother in law to have him take me to the pride lands, now more than a year later I'm returning to my father's lands for the first time.

"It looks a lot better, than it did last time" Simba spoke

I nodded slowly looking around

"Ehsan I brought you here for a reason, as you know these lands belonged to your father even after scar tried to claim them"

"But you defeated scar, doesn't that makes the lands yours?"

"When I challenged scar, I wasn't trying to take over his kingdom or claim the land, I just wanted to rescue your sister, after I married her she stopped being the princess of the Furaha lands to become queen of the pride lands, and thus making you next king according to law" he explained "my father and I could train you if you wish, you could be a great king"

"But, what if I don't want to be king?" I asked

"Without an heir to claim them these lands will become part of the pride lands" Simba sighed "you have until your third birthday to decide, no one else but you can make this decision Ehsan"

After he finished his inspection Simba took some time to talk to the animals, some of them would travel back and forth from the pride lands constantly and promised to report back to him if there were ever any problems, Simba was a great king and I'm sure he could take good care of these lands if I refused the throne.

After all was settled we started our journey back home, I got to hear many of my brother in law's crazy anecdotes, needless to say that I would never do most of the things he's done but it was fun to hear about them, we arrived home right before sunset and I was exhausted outside the den our family was waiting for us, even my niece and nephews.

"Look! Daddy and uncle Ehsan are back" Nala said to the cubs, the three clumsily walked towards us meowing

"They're walking! They're actually walking" Simba rejoiced licking his cubs one by one

"yes, they've been practicing all day just to show you guys" Nala said proudly Simba pulled her in for a tight hug

I looked down at my paws and saw the small cubs looking up at me with curiosity on their, teal, amber and red eyes I laid down on the floor until it was time to go to bed, life here in the pride lands was good I don't really see myself trading all this just to become king, but then again I have an entire year to make up my mind.


	4. Chapter 4

**I AM SO SORRY I'VE BEEN GONE FOR SO LONG *sobs dramatically* **

**-AZ**

**Chapter 4**

**Simba's point of view**

So today Nala, the cubs and I were enjoying some family time near the acacia grove, Kion slept in my wife's paws while, Kiara, Kopa and I played

"Ah!" My teal-eyed son squealed while I chased him around with Kiara on my back

"Let's get him daddy!" Kiara giggled enjoying the chase

"We got you!" I laughed grabbing Kopa and tickling him; Kiara got off and started to tickle him as well

"Okay, okay that's enough!" Nala laughed from her spot "let him breathe"

"Aw but mommy he's fine" Kiara pouted

"Yeah, I'm just fine mama" Kopa wheezed out

"Uh-huh" she said rolling her beautiful eyes at his obvious exhaustion

"Mom" Kion grunted "I'm trying to sleep here!"

"You're ALWAYS trying to sleep Kion" Kopa laughed

"Yeah!" Kiara giggled "you're such a lazy-butt"

"Mom, dad! She called me a butt!" my youngest son complained

I had to suppress a laugh and cleared my throat when Nala gave me a look "Kopa, Kiara stop teasing your brother" I said with a serious fatherly face

"Yes daddy" they sighed "Sorry Kion" the two gave him their best smiles

"Yeah, yeah, whatever" he huffed "Mom can I have some milk?" He turned to ask his mother with a smile

"I want some too" Kiara added running towards her

"Hey! Save some for me" Kopa followed

"Of course sweetie" Nala smiled, our cubs were now three months old so she still nurse them once in a while but they also began eating meat, after they took their first steps and said their first words, which were "mama" by the way I lost she won but whatever, the cubs were growing up fast they loved running around and playing well Kopa and Kiara did, Kion is a rather serious little one.

The 3 cubs began feeding while I lay down next to my mate, the trio soon fell asleep "Look at them Simba, aren't they beautiful?" Nala asked in a sweet voice while she rested her head on my shoulder

"They are" I answered nuzzling her , at times I forget my past, the troubled prince I used to be and how she hated me just two years ago and here we are now married with cubs ruling our Pridelands

"Did you ever imagine your life would turn out like this? Nala asked suddenly

"What do you mean?" I questioned giving her a curios look

"Getting married having cubs and ruling the kingdom, you know the traditional life" she answered with a shrug

"Well…" her questions made think about the life I lived before I reunited with her

**-FLASHBACK-**

**NARRATOR P.O.V.**

"Mufasa, calm down please" Sarabi said to her king as he angrily passed back and forth, it was late at night and their son Simba hadn't return home yet and the two waited for him at Pride Rock's peak.

"No Sarabi, I've had it with this boy thinking he can get away with doing whatever he wants" Mufasa spat

"Honey, he's just a boy-" Sarabi began

"He is not just a boy Sarabi, he's the prince! He's supposed to have some sense of responsibility and respect" the king continued his passing

"But Mufasa, what if something happened to him?" Sarabi asked her mate

"Oh please Sarabi; this isn't the first time he stays out pass midnight" Mufasa scoffed

"Maybe this time it's different, what if he's hurt or lost?" the queen said worried

"Relax mom, I'm okay" the king and queen turned quickly to see his son walking up the paths that lead to where they were

"Simba, there you are" Sarabi said relived

"Do you have any idea of how late it is?"

"Well um… I kind of lost track of time" the prince laughed nervously

"Its way past midnight" the king replied in a serious tone

"Oh, I'm sorry it won't happen again I promise; now if you excuse me I think I'm going to sleep" the young lion yawned

"You are not going anywhere" Mufasa growled and Simba sat down with a sigh "Now tell me, where you have been?"

"I was with a…friend..." The prince said dragging out the last word and looking away

"A friend?" Mufasa raised an eyebrow "Is that what you call the lionesses that you've been fooling around with?"

"Oh come on dad" Simba laughed

"This is no laughing matter Simba; I expect you to be a gentleman you can't be sleeping around like some common rogue" the father scolded

"Oh really and why not?" the young lion said rolling his eyes

"Because you're the prince!" the king answered raising his voice "as future king you're expected to settle down and marry a respectable lioness"

"And what if I don't want to get married?" the prince challenged

"You cannot be king without a queen by your side" Mufasa snapped

"Then I guess I won't be king" the golden prince shrugged as if unaffected by his father's menacing growls

"Mufasa, please let me talk to him" Sarabi pleaded

"He's all yours; I've had it with his attitude" Mufasa said glaring at his son before he marched towards the den, Simba rolled his eyes and sat at the edge of pride rock

"Simba" the queen began "you know it's no pleasure for me watching you and your father snarling at each other like that, your father may seem angry with you but really he's worried"

"I know" he sighed

"Can I speak frankly?" the queen said placing a paw on his shoulder

"Do you have to?" the prince groaned

"Yes my son" she replied "I know that you're going to be a Fine lion. Decent, loving, accomplished" Simba turned around to look at her "But I don't think you're there yet" he looked down at the ground "And right now, well, I worry that you're not very nice anymore" the queen said with her voice breaking and shedding a tear

"Well, there's nothing I can say to that" Simba said shedding a tear of his own

"There is nothing you have to" Sarabi sniffled whipping the tears away before she left her son sitting alone under the stars

**-END OF FLASHBACK-**

**-Present day-**

**Simba's point of view**

"It's not the life I imagined for myself" I admitted "at least not until, I reunited with you" she gave me nuzzle which I returned "what about you?"

"Well…" she smiled bashfully and looked away

"Well?" I said giving her a little bump

"I did. Ever since I was a cub, I had this picture in my head of my perfect life" she said with her eyes on mine "I know that nothing ever is truly perfect"

"To me this is as close as it gets" I whispered


	5. Chapter 5

**Here's chapter 5 guys enjoy! thank you for the comments, the follows, and the favorites :)**

**-AZ**

**Chapter 5**

**Mufasa's point of view **

Today I stayed home on cub sitting duty Sarabi and Sarafina decided to join the hunting party today while everyone else was out, my grandchildren and the other cubs of the pride; Malka and Tama's daughter Vitani, Chumvi and Kula's son Nuka, Tojo and Raiza's daughters Rani and Sita were playing tag, we were in a nearby hill it was a hot sunny day and we were having a good time, at noon their mothers arrived from their hunt followed by my wife and Sarafina

"Good hunt today, huh?" I asked seeing the large zebras they had caught

"It was amazing! I mean I've seen Sarabi hunt before but this time it was just-wow!" Kula said excitedly

"Sarabi and Sarafina are legends" Tama added

"You should've seen us back in the day" Sarafina laughed "we were unstoppable"

"I think you still are" Raiza smiled

"Oh no, were not what we used to be" Sarabi chuckled

"Yeah, but we're still alright" Sarafina smirked "for a couple of old ladies"

"Oh no, you two are not old" I shook my head "cause that would mean I'm old, that's impossible"

"See? You're not old and you need to come to the hunts more often so we can learn your tricks" Tama stated

"Oh much too tired to go on another hunt any time soon" my wife shook her head

"I agree" Sarafina chuckled "but, we taught Nala all of our tricks"

"You should ask her to teach you meanwhile" Sarabi said smiling at the younger lionesses

"And where is our lovely queen right now?" I asked

"She had to stay to talk to the herds, she won't be long" Kula replied

"Until that we should get this cubs back to pride rock and out of the sun" Sarafina said squinting her light blue eyes at the brightness of the sky

"Let's take this inside" said Raiza motioning towards the kills and for Kula and tama to help her

"We'll get the cubs" Sarafina offered

"Let's go inside children!" Sarabi commanded and collective protests were heard from the cubs

"Oh grandma, we were having fun" Kiara whined

"Can we stay a bit longer? Please" Kopa begged

"You can if you don't wish to eat" Sarabi said shrugging

"Huh?" the cubs asked

"Cause if you stay here playing, we are going eat all the food" she continued "right, Fina?"

"Oh yes, we're all really hungry" Sarafina replied

"Not if we get there first!" Kopa shouted as ran down the hill and darted towards pride rock followed by the rest of the cubs except Kion

"I see what you two did there" he said giving them a suspicious look before following the rest of the cubs

"You can't fool Kion" I laughed

"Grandma!" Kiara yelled from the distance "Kopa is pulling my tail!"

"I'm not!" Kopa retorted

"Kings above" Sarafina muttered ran ahead towards the cubs with Sarabi leaving me behind with an amused look on my face, I stood up from the place I had been sitting in all morning and stretched as I was making my was down the hill, I saw Nala coming towards me with a smile on her face "Good afternoon Mufasa"

"Good afternoon Miss Nala" I smiled back at her

"How was your morning with the cubs?" she asked

"Very amusing" I chuckled

"did Kopa and Kiara cause any trouble?" Nala asked

"They behaved perfectly" I reassured her "how did your talk with the herds go?"

"It went great, things are running smoothly and I want to make sure they stay that way" she answered and as we walked I suddenly felt that breathing became harder with every step, the muscles of my chest felt tight and I started coughing

"Mufasa, what's wrong" concern came to my daughter-in-law's face

And I found it impossible to reply

"Should I get help?" she asked

I shook my head

"Mufasa, I'm getting Rafiki" Nala said turning in direction of his home

"No" I wheezed out and she stopped "I'm alright" I said taking in deep breaths and starting to feel normal again

"What happened to you?" She asked scrunching her eyebrows

"Nothing, don't worry" I said

"Something did happened Mufasa; you were out of breath and turned pale" she said in a shaky voice "I-I thought you were dying"

"I'm sorry you had to see that" I sighed "I haven't been the same since my last injury, I broke a few ribs and punctured my lung" she lowered her gaze to the ground she knew I was referring to the time her father and scar attacked me

"I'm sorry my father did that to you" she said barely above a whisper

"You shouldn't be the one to apologize" I said giving her a gentle pat in the back "your father's mistakes are not on you"

"If I hadn't ran away he wouldn't have done this" she shook her head

"And you probably wouldn't be married to Simba right now, and you wouldn't have Kiara, Kopa and Kion" I pointed out and she sighed "you see Nala, there's no point in regretting mistakes of the past, because they helped to shape your present" She nodded and gave me a small smile and we headed back to home

"Does Simba know about this?" she asked after a while

"Well, no" I admitted "I don't see why he should, since it's nothing serious"

"I think he should know, since he is your son" the lioness retorted

"And he is also the king" I added "he's got too much on his mind already" I replied

"Promise me you will tell him if it gets worse" the young queen said, I turned to her, her teal eyes filled with concern

"I promise" I sighed as we made our way to the den where everyone was.

**Sarabi's point of view**

After eating everyone went to their favorite spots for an afternoon nap, when I woke up my husband was gone so I climbed up to the top of pride rock knowing that I would find Mufasa there

"There you are Muffy" I said and he turned to face me he gave me a smile and went to sit down next to him, the two of us remained quiet for a while

"Nala told me what happened" I said looking up at him "and she said you told her not to tell Simba" He sighed and nodded "you know you have tell everyone the truth eventually, right?

"I do, I just don't know how" he said defeated


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**Simba's point of view **

My day was going well so far the guys and I left extra early for patrol so we could take the rest of the day off, I was looking forward to it it's been a while since I had a whole afternoon to spend the family but as I was saying we were on patrol and right on schedule Zazu showed up to give me the morning report

"Good morning your majesty" I stopped myself from rolling my eyes at Zazu's unnecessary formality

"Good morning" I answer "Zazu I've told you many times to just call me Simba"

"Right I'll make a note of that" he bows

"Anything to report this morning?" I ask

"Why yes your majesty" he nods enthusiastically and I groan, what part of 'call me Simba' he doesn't gets? Tojo and Malka snicker to themselves seeing my frustration

"Proceed" I say glaring at my friends

"The elephants and giraffes seem to be getting quite nicely thanks your intervention"

"Are they both sticking to the treaty?" I ask

"Yes sire, in other news underground sources tell me that the termite infestation we had had been solved by a new family of meerkats that moved in to the Pridelands"

"Great news" I smile "schedule a visit to them tomorrow afternoon"

"I will your majesty, and last thing a quick reminder that today is the annual gathering of the Aduli and Pridelands royal families" the blue hornbill said making my eyes widen

"That's today?!" I blurted out, how could I have forgotten about this?

"Yes sire, this year we'll be hosting the gathering here in the Pridelands and following the tradition…" Zazu went on blabbing about the traditional banquet and more, so the annual gathering of the Aduli and Pridelands royal families is a tradition that was started by my grandfather to keep an stable alliance between our neighboring prides, basically the two royal families share a meal together exchange some formal words and then go off their separate ways in order to keep peace. Last year the gathering was held at the Aduli lands it was Nala and I were nervous to say the least this was it our first chore as king and queen, to face king Bayot and explain to him that Nala and I were betrothed long before Moyo betrothed her to prince Zambra the whole misunderstanding could have easily led to war luckily the king was very understanding, Zambra married a lioness named Eshe had son and took his father's place in the after he passed away. So now king Zambra and his family are on their way here and I completely forgot about it until that I hope Nala is more prepared for this than me.

"Enjoy your afternoon guys" I say as the guys leave my side after patrol, I go looking for Nala but I bump in to my smiling mother

"My dear son" she nuzzles me

"Hey mom" I say returning the affection "have you seen Nala?"

"She's in the den giving the triplets a bath" she answers "ready for the gathering?"

"You knew about this too?" I mutter "I completely forgot about it until Zazu reminded me"

"Well everything is ready you just have to show up and be in your best diplomatic behavior" she chuckled

"Right" I grumbled "where's father?"

"He um- he went to visit Rafiki" she answered "he'll be back soon"

"Is he okay? Why would he-" I began but a sweet little voice interrupted

"Daddy, you're home!" Kiara bubbled running towards me and hugging my front paw

"Hello sweetheart" I bend over to lick her head

"Daddy!" she protested covering her head with her tiny paws "I just took a bath don't mess up mommy's job" my mother and I laugh at her reaction

"Well forgive me princess" I smirk and my daughter giggles and just then Kopa runs out of the den with Nala and Kion following "Kopa come back here! I'm not done with you" my queen says

"Oh come on mama! I'm clean enough" he groans

"Mom you missed a spot!" Kion protested pointing to his back leg

"Mommy, daddy messed up the fur on my head!" Kiara chimed in

"Enough!" Nala yelled "Kiara your fur is just fine, Kion you can wait until I'm done with your brother and Kopa you come here right this instant" all of us in stayed in silent

"Yes mama" Kopa sighed walking towards her with his ears pinned down

"I don't know how she does it" I whisper

"I could barely handle one of you, she has to deal with three" my mother said with a soft laugh before going inside the den to rest

"Alright now try to stay as clean as possible" Nala says

"Tell that to Kopa" Kion rolls his amber eyes

"Tell that to Kopa" Kopa echoed in a mocking voice, Nala raised a warning eyebrow at them

"We should go play inside" Kiara suggested giving her mother a good girl smile, Nala sighed as the cubs dashed towards the den

"You okay?" I ask nuzzling her

"Yeah" she answers resting her head on my mane

"I know they can be a handful sometimes" I say

"I can handle them" she said yawning "how long before they arrive?"

"Not much" I answer and she lets out a purr as I lick her forehead

"I missed you" she whispers

"I was only gone for a few hours" I chuckled

"Still" she shrugs

"We should spend some time together after this is over, just you and me" I smile

"That would be nice" she smiles back

"Your majesties!" Zazu landed in front of us ruining our little moment "your guests have arrived"

"Let's get this over with" I grunt as we both get up to get the cubs

"Mind your manners" Nala whispered to our children

"Yes mom" the three chorused, as we descend from pride rock I see those waiting Zambra looks like the ghost of his father he has the same dark brown mane, light fur and amber eyes as Bayot, next to him stood his wife Eshe and between her brown colored paws was a green eyed cub

"Simba, Nala is good to see you again" he nods as we approach

"You as well Zambra" I reply and Nala nods her head

"Allow me to introduce to you queen" he says gesturing to her

"Pleasure to meet you" I say to her

"Nice to meet you Eshe" Nala smiles at her

"The pleasure is mine" the lioness bows her head, the cub between her paws looks at us all with wide eyes

"If you all excuse me, I have to go check on the hunting party, care to join me Eshe?" She accepts and leaves with Nala

"Shall we go in to the royal den?" I suggest and Zambra agrees

"you cubs can stay out here and play" I could tell that the younger ones were less than exited to sit in a den listening to our boring conversation and not gonna lie I'm not so exited myself.

**Kopa's point of view**

"Alright!" I cheer when dad tells us that we can stay here and play I was ready to pounce on Kion when he points towards the brown cub that sat not far from us I totally forgot he was here maybe he wants to play

"Hey! I'm Kopa" I smile "what's your name?"

"I-I'm Kovu" he stutters

"Whoa! Cool we all have names that start with k" I say exited and he gives me a funny look "this is my sister Kiara"

"Hi" Kiara smiled

"Hi Kiara" Kovu laughs nervously

"And this is Ki" I start but my brother interrupts me

"I'm Kion" he says glaring at me "not Ki"

"Whatever you say Ki" I smirk

"Kopa mom said to mind our manners" he says

"And that's what I was doing I was introducing us" I tell him

"You know I don't like to be called Ki!" he argued

"Okay, okay relax" I roll my eyes

"How can I relax when you're being so rude?" he snapped

"I'm being rude? You interrupted me and now you're yelling in front of our guest" I laugh and he growls

"Hey wanna play tag?" Kiara asks

"Yes!" Kovu says

"Kion's it" I yell and we all start running away from him


	7. Chapter 7

_**hey guys! I have a **__**embarrassing **__**confession: before I watched the trailer for "the lion guard" I pronounced Kion **__**as "kee-on" I felt so stupid afterwards but in my **__**defense**__**English**__**is not my first **__**language, anyways I just wanted to share that with you guys feel free to leave a review making fun of me lol **_

_**-AZ**_

**Chapter 7**

**Simba's point of view**

"So how big is your pride at the moment?" Zambra asks as we wait for or meal

"Around 20 adults and 7 cubs" I answer

"Impressive" he nods "Being king is great isn't it? You can get with whatever lionesses you want whenever you please"

"That's not how it works here" I tell him "the lionesses are free to choose whoever they want as mates"

"So you're telling me only 3 of the cubs are yours?" he scoffed

"Yes" I answer

"Simba, you seduced every lioness that crossed your path" he laughed

"That life is behind me" I shake my head

"So you're suddenly a changed lion?" he raises an eyebrow

"I am" I affirmed

"All the cubs in my pride are mine; I just picked one of them to be my heir" he smirks

"You have your traditions and we have ours" I added

"Yeah but come on expect me to believe that you are actually faithful and devoted to Nala?" he asked

"Yes" I snapped

"Okay, okay I guess I believe you" he shrugs and after a few moments in silence he begins speaking again "Seems like you're doing well Simba, seems like everything fell in to place after you married Nala"

"Well, yes I'm very lucky" I nod

"Lucky I didn't get my paws on her first" he says looking at his claws

"Excuse me?" I raise an eyebrow

"You know, you stole her form me right in time" he says coolly

"I did not stole her from you" I said firmly "Nala and I were betrothed since birth; Moyo knew that but he lied to you and your father"

"Either way, I feel like you're in debt with not just me but the Aduli pride" he shrugs

"What are you implying?" I ask losing my patience

"That you should give your daughter to my son in marriage" he answers

"Absolutely not!" I boomed

"You took away one beautiful innocent princess, so you should give one back" he pressed

"My daughter is not an object for trading" I growl

"You have to, or else I will-" he begins

"What? What will you do? " I challenged

"I will annul the alliance between our prides" he glares

"The Pridelands is the most prosperous kingdom" I remind him as I walk menacingly towards him "we don't need the alliance"

"I will wage war on you Simba" he threatens

"My pride outnumbers yours vastly and you're surrounded by my allies" I shrug he frowns and looks at the ground "Your pride's survival depends on that alliance, leave now and it will remain intact"

"All this for some brat that isn't even as good as her mother" he mutters

"I've had enough of you I want you and your family to leave this instant" I growl and he growls back extending his claws

"Am I gonna have to make you?" I ask getting in his face and bearing my teeth, just then Tojo, Malka Chumvi walked inside the den glaring at Zambra

**Kiara's point of view**

I was it now so it was my turn to chase my brothers and Kovu, Kopa and Kion were a lot faster so I went after the other cub Kovu I don't think he realized I was right behind him because he was really surprised when I turned around, he stumbled onto his back and I fell on top of him with our noses touching I froze were I was and I felt looked down at the wide eyed cub beneath me

"Um…" I turned when I heard Kion I laugh nervously and quickly move away from Kovu, Kion raises an eyebrow at us "Kopa is not going to like this"

"What's going on?" Kopa walked towards us apparently he didn't see what happened and I'm glad he didn't cause he can be a bit overprotective sometimes just like dad, I opened my mouth to lie my tail off and say that nothing happened when a voice boomed

"Eshe, Kovu! We're leaving now!" It was king Zambra and he didn't sound happy

"I gotta go" Kovu said running in his father's direction, from where I was I could see my dad standing on top of pride rock with his friends and king Zambra, queen Eshe and Kovu leaving quickly

"Would somebody please tell me what is going on?" Kopa asked once again

"I'll tell you later" Kion answered "something much more important happened there

"Let's go see!" Kopa yelled racing towards we follow him towards where parents were

"Simba what happened?" my mommy asked "why did they leave like that?" daddy looked really mad but his face softened when he glanced down at us

"I'll explain it to you later Nala" he sighed "I need you to come with me"

"Where are we going?" she asked

"To find my father, I need to talk to him" daddy said and my mommy nodded

"We'll be right back" they told us before leaving

"Okay, Ki spit it out" Kopa turned to Kion

"First of all-" Kion narrowed his eyed

"Your name is Kion, not Ki" Kopa rolls his teal eyes with a smirk "I know"

"Don't you dare tell anyone what happened" I say through gritted teeth

"Oh so something did happened?" Kion smirks at me

"Kion I mean it" I say swatting at his arm

"Ouch! Fine I won't tell him" he glares at me while rubbing his arm

"You will tell me!" Kopa says "I can hit you too you know?"

"Yeah but I'm more afraid of her" Kion shrugs Kopa quickly pins Kion down on his back and demands to know what happened

"I can't tell you Kopa!" Kion squirms under Kopa's hold; wow Kion really is afraid of me

"Oh really?" Kopa raises an eyebrow "well I can't stop my drool from falling in your face" he shrugs and opens his mouth

"Kopa wait I'll tell you!" Kion yells "Kiara and Kovu kissed!"

"WHAT!" Kopa yelled. kion that little snitch is more afraid of getting dirty than he is of me.


	8. Chapter 8

***with Mushu's voice* IIIII LIIIIIIVEEEEE!**

**review are most welcomed and ****appreciated**

**-az **

**Chapter 8 **

**Mufasa's point of view**

"I'm afraid you haven't shown much improvement since your last checkup" Rafiki explained

"No surprise there, I ran out of breathe by just coming here" I tell him "it was worse than the last time it happened"

"You need to avoid physical exhaustion" the healer said shaking his head

"I was walking" I sigh "very slowly"

"The puncture and the infection did serious damage to your lungs" he reminds me

"I could have died" I say lowly

"Yes Mufasa But the stars wanted you to survive" he gave me an encouraging smile

"And I am truly grateful for that" I nod "however I'm concerned I might be getting worst"

"You're stable but I could give you some herbs, and go check on you once a week" the shaman says placing a paw on my shoulder

"I would appreciate it if you did" I smile he nods and looks around

"Luckily you won't have to make the trip back home alone" he says pointing towards a shape in the distance.

**Nala's point of view**

I tried to keep up with my mate's fast pace in direction to Rafiki's tree after he explained to me what happened he was still furious, it bothered me as well but it honestly didn't surprised me Zambra was a disgustingly sexist lion just like my father was, perhaps now that the alliances between our prides is broken I won't have to see him ever again I believe Simba did the right thing but its best seek consul with Mufasa after all he has much more experience and wisdom than us. Before we got to the giant baobab we found Mufasa making walking towards us, Simba told his father what had happened and the former king was silent for a few seconds

"I see. Well, as former king absolutely cannot condone your outburst" Mufasa said with a stern face but then it softened "but as Kiara's grandfather, I say, "right on"

"I do not regret it" Simba admitted "but I certainly hope I did the right thing"

"You don't think he will go through with his threats, do you?" I ask

"Their pride is too small and they don't have any allies" Simba answered "you can see why"

"True, diplomacy is not their forte but I recommend you keep a watchful eye on the borders" Mufasa said

"I will" my mate answered firmly

"Good, now I think we should head back home" the older lion started walking slowly we followed

"Are you alright father?" his son asked him

"Yes my son, I'm just tired" the father replied with a smile

"Why did you come to see Rafiki?" Simba asked

"Just visiting an old friend" Mufasa shrugged and looked away "I wonder if your mother left some zebra for me" Simba glanced at me he could tell his father was acting strange it's not fair that I keep this from him but I promised my father-in-law I wouldn't tell Simba about his condition.

The three of us arrived back home when the sun was stating to set I was ready to eat and relax but we walked right into the chaos and to no surprise my cubs were causing it

"Kiara, get back here I'm not done with you!" Kopa yelled while chasing Kiara and she was chasing Kion with the rest of our family trying to stop them

"Whoa! Kopa calm down" my brother said holding him back with his paw

"Kiara stop chasing Kion!" Sarabi said trying to get a hold of Kiara

"Your parents are not going to be happy when they get here!" my mother raised her voice

"Oh but I am happy they got here" Kion yelled running faster than I've ever seen him, and hiding behind his grandfather's leg "Mom, dad, grandpa help me!"

My daughter halted in front of me with wide eyes "he-he hey mommy, hey daddy" she said with her father's grin on her face that usually melted my heart but this time I kept a stern face

"Please excuse us" I said to everyone around, I Picked Kiara up in my mouth and signaled for my husband to follow

"Come Kion" Simba called our youngest son, he followed with his ears pinned back, Ehsan handed him Kopa and we went in to the grasslands were we could talk

The cubs sat in front of us frowning away from each other "What happened?" Their father asked, the siblings started talking at the same time, accusations flied but I couldn't understand anything with them yelling over each other "enough!" Simba stopped them

"One at the time" I say

Both Kion and Kiara glance at their brother who was sitting between them he sighs and says "nothing happened, we were just playing a game and I kind of got out of hand"

"Yes" Kion nodded his head

"We're sorry" Kiara said

The three cubs looked up at us with big sad eyes, Simba glanced at me and I sighed "did you eat already?" I asked my cubs and they all nodded "go apologize to your grandparents and uncle for your behavior"

"And then you're off to sleep" my mate added

Kopa opened his mouth to protest but decided against "okay mama"

"Yes daddy" Kiara nodded her head

"Goodnight" Kion said when they were leaving

"1 hour, I was gone for 1 hour and I come back and they're trying to kill each other" I say frustrated when they can't hear me

My mate sighs and gives me a hug "This is my fault" he says I knew he said this because he asked me to accompany him to speak with Mufasa but I decided to lighten up the mood

"Of course it is, you were the one that got me pregnant" I said looking up at him and giving him a playful look

He laughs and pulls me closer "I didn't hear any complaints from you when I did" I giggle and nuzzle him it was nice having my husband for myself after a long and stressful day even if it was just for a few moments.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

**Simba's point of view **

A few weeks had passed since the Zambra incident and things remained calm in the Pride lands but just to be sure the borders remained constantly monitored also I had decided begin training Ehsan so that he could be part of the lion guard. All that on top of my regular duties had kept me pretty busy these past weeks thankfully I can always count on my family to look after the cubs when Nala and I are too busy like we were today. after I was done I headed back home I walked up the path towards the entrance of the den to see Kion, Kiara and Kopa crowded around My father and listening to what their grandfather was saying so attentively that they didn't noticed me standing behind them.

"Everyone in the Pride lands from the enormous elephants to the miniature ants was waiting, so after Rafiki gave your father the royal marking, he took him in his arms lifting him so he could be seen by the whole kingdom everyone cheered before bowing to the new prince" he told the cubs that were looking at him in awe

"Wow!" Kion exclaimed

"Cool!" Kiara chimed

"Yeah…" Kopa was the next to speak "but why did he do that grandpa?"

"Do what Kopa?" dad asked

"Lifting him up like that" he replied "it sounds a bit dangerous"

"Imagine if Rafiki had dropped daddy!" Kiara gasped

Their grandfather laughed loudly before saying "that has never happened before" he then turned to Kopa and explained "It's a tradition in the Pridelands to have a presentation ceremony"

"Did we have one too?" Kiara asked

"I don't remember having one" Kion shrugged

"Of course you don't we were babies when it happened" Kopa laughed rolling his eyes at his brother in response Kion stuck out his tongue at him

"Actually" Mufasa started, the cubs turned their attention back to him "we didn't held a ceremony when you three were born"

"What!" Kion exclaimed

"It was your parent's decision not to have one" my father told them

"Why?" Kion questioned

"Yeah, that's not fair everyone before us had one" Kiara added

"Because In the ceremony you present the crown prince or princess the heir to the throne" their grandfather said

"Huh?" Kiara turned her head to the side

"Meaning?" Kopa asked confused

"The future king or queen" I spoke, the four of them turned to me and I continued "your mother and I didn't wanted to decide who the next ruler will be so early on"

"Oh…" the three said understanding "So only one of us can be the next ruler?" Kion asks

"Usually the firstborn is the chosen one, but since you are triplets you three have just as much right to the throne as the other" My father told them

"We will make that decision when you're old enough and then we will have the ceremony" I smile at them, the siblings nod and eye each other "But you don't need to worry about that for now"

"And what will happen to the other two?" my daughter asked

"Everyone in the Pridelands has a very important job; your futures will reveal themselves in time" my father tells them making them smile "now why don't you all go to sleep now?" The cub's smiles disappeared from their faces and they began protesting

"Do we have to?" Kiara whined "I'm not even tired"

"Yeah, Mom isn't even home yet" Kion added "she has to give us a bath before we go to sleep"

"Ugh no thanks I would rather sleep than taking a bath" Kopa shuddered before running towards the platform were we slept "goodnight grandpa!"

I nudged Kiara and Kion and they sigh "goodnight grandpa" they say before dragging themselves to the platform

"It's way too early to sleep daddy" Kiara protested

"Well, you are going to have to wake up very early tomorrow if you wanna come with me to see the whole kingdom" I shrug as I sit next to where they're laying

"You're taking us with you tomorrow?" Kopa shoot up exited

"May I ask just where are you taking my cubs tomorrow?" I hear Nala's sweet voice coming from behind

"To see the kingdom, but only if that's okay with their beautiful mother" I said grinning at her

She smiles at me and winks "um I don't know…"

"Please!" the three say to their mother with a pleading smile

She chuckles and says "you may go" the cubs gasp and begin cheering "but-" their cheers die down "you will listen to your father and stay near him at all times no running off on your own, also no fighting or bickering and no teasing each other"

"If one them breaks any rules I promise I will have them all escorted back home by Zazu" I say to her and the cub's Ears flatten against their heads

"We'll behave" Kopa says

"Yeah we´ll be good" Kiara ads

"Promise" Kion nods along

"Um hum" Nala says nuzzling each of them "now go ahead and sleep"

"Sleep? How can I sleep when I'm so excited?" Kopa grinned

I chuckle at him and say "maybe a bath will help"

"Yes come here sweetie mama will give you a nice relaxing bath before sleep" Nala says reaching her paw to Kopa

"Oh wow I'm suddenly really tired" he says faking a yawn before laying his head on his paws and closing his teal eyes "goodnight" Kiara and Kion giggle before saying their good-nights as well. Tomorrow our cubs will know what being the princess and princes of the Pride lands really means, their education begins and so does the countdown to decide who my successor will be.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

**Nala's point of view**

"Kiara, Kion wake up" I heard Kopa's voice whispering, I opened my eyes and saw that it was still pretty much dark outside and my son was nudging his siblings to wake up

"Stop it koko" Kiara grumbled swatting her brother's paw away, Kion only groaned and curled into a ball

"Come on guys!" Kopa insisted tugging Kion's tail

"Ouch! Stop it Kopa or I'm telling mom!" Kion growled

"Kopa, come here" I say and he turns to me with a nervous smile, Kion chuckles and lays his head back in his paws

"I'm sorry mom" he says lowering his ears

"I know you're excited sweetie, but can't you wait until your father wakes up?" I smile

"I guess I can" he shrugs and lays his head on my front paws and looks up at me "mama, when will you and decide who the king or queen will be?"

"Probably after you turn three years old" I answer

"Awn… am I really gonna have to wait that long to know?" he asks

I chuckle and tickle him "patience is a virtue koko"

"I know" he giggles for a while and then he sighs "do you think I have a chance to be king?"

"All of you have an equal chance" I admit his ears flatten against his head he looks away "but you remember Kopa, if you work hard you can do anything you set your mind to" I tell him and he turns to me with a determined smile "I can see so much of my father in you sometimes it scares me"

"What do you mean mama?" he asks

"You hide a burning ambition inside those water eyes" I say "the determination that was passed down to us from my father"

He lowers his head already knowing about his maternal grandfather actions "I don't ever want to be like him" he whispers

"Then promise me you will never let your ambition turn into greed like he did" I say looking into his reflective eyes "he allowed his greed to blind him, not letting him see what was really important"

"I promise mama" he nuzzles me

And I give him a hug "I love you"

"I love you too" he hugs me back; Next to us Simba yawns loudly and stretches his paws "up already son?

"Dad!" Kopa leaves my arms and pounces on his dad "can we go now?"

"Yeah, we're just in time to watch the sun rise" Simba smiles getting in his paws, I get up as well and nuzzle Kiara to wake up "Kopa-" she groans but then realizes it's me "oh hi mommy, is it time to go?"

"Yes Kiki, get up" I answer

Simba nuzzles Kion "wake up son"

"Okay, I'm up, I'm up!" Kion stands up with a yaw

The five of us walk out of the den I nuzzle them and watch them with go up the narrow path that leads to the top of pride rock with smiles on their faces mirroring one my own. After I lose sight of them I walk back in to the den and gather the lionesses for the hunt.

**Mufasa's point of view**

After he showed the cubs the whole kingdom from the top of pride rock Simba asked me to join him and the cubs on their tour around the Pridelands "The life of every creature in the Pridelands matters, they are here for a reason that is why as ruler we must pay attention to their needs, to keep circle of life in balance maintaining a good relationship with the different species is vital, and the best way to do it is through dialog" my son explained to his cubs as we walked past Rafiki's tree

"Oh dad, can we stop here for a second?" Kion exclaimed "I wanna ask Rafiki for a baobab fruit"

"What for?" Simba asks

"To play baobab ball" he smiles "grandpa said you would teach us"

"You told them about that silly game I made up as a cub?" Simba turns to me

"You seemed to have fun playing it as a cub, they asked for fun games ideas" I say with a smirk

"Yes it was cause at the time I didn't realized how dangerous it was" he replies

"Please dad, can we?" Kion pleaded

"Absolutely not" my son said and continued walking; Kion looked up at me pouting

"Oh just let him get the fruit Simba" I say walking up to him

"You are such a softie" he smirks at me "no wonder I was such spoiled brat"

"I'm their grandfather my job is to spoil them while still can" I chuckle and shrug "I was firm with you when I needed to"

"True and I think I turned out okay" he laughs

"You are more than okay my son, I'm very proud of the lion you have become" I smile at him

He stops walking and turns to me with a small smile "thank you dad, it means a lot coming from you" then suddenly the sound of a twig snapping alerted the two of us automatically we lifted our heads trying to catch a scent "do you smell that?" Simba ask in a low voice

"rogues" I growl


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

**Ehsan's point of view**

Everything was silent around me the blazing sun gathered animals under the shadows of nearby trees, I should follow their lead I'm frying my brain out here but I can't I have to do this well, I need to prove myself worthy of this job. when I came to the Pridelands everyone thought of me the pampered former prince and I probably was but just like Simba did I want to show everyone that I'm capable of working hard and earn their respect. And because I was the closest thing Simba has to a brother he promised that if I did well I could one day become leader of the lion guard until one of his children is ready to assume the position I would also have to train him or her, but for now I have to focus merely on doing a good job as a guard which is really hard at the moment, it was noon and time to head back to pride rock, I had finished my patrol but I don't want to be the first guard back home so I decided to take one last look around.

After walking for a while the silence is interrupted by loud roar that causes the birds flying off

"Trouble in the Pridelands!" the birds yell as they pass over my head, I run to find out what's going on.

**Kopa's point of view**

"Rogues" my heart stopped after I head my grandfather saying that word but I tried to play it cool unlike my siblings

"Daddy I'm scared" Kiara whimpered standing between my dad's legs

"Are they dangerous?" Kion asked

"Quiet" my father commands, he then sniffs the air and growls lowly "go back to pride rock"

"But dad-" Kion objects and Kiara hangs on tightly to dad's leg

"Go now!" Dad yells and the grass starts to rustle and I can hear steps coming towards us

"Guys we have to go" I say pulling Kiara and Kion, the three of us start running leaving dad and grandpa behind; I look over my shoulder and see two male lions jumping out of the tall grass

"No!" Kion screams and halts "dad, Grandpa!" I cover his mouth my paw, the two lions turned to look at us and I gasp

"There look!" one of the lions said

"I'll get them!" the other says and begins running towards us with our grandpa following him and trying to stop him from getting to us

"We need to hide from them" I say as we run I look around and see a hole between the roots of a tree "there!" I turn to see if the if the male was still behind us to instead see my grandfather pouncing on him, I looked away and kept running towards the hiding spot

"Kion come back here!" Kiara cried, I look back to see my brother running I back to my grandfather

"Go hide Kiara" I say

"No" she says and runs back

I go after her and I see my grandfather on the ground, the rogue standing over him and Kion running towards them "leave him alone!" He growls, the male turns to him and walks towards him menacingly Kion recoiled and came crushing in to us

The lion stood over us as we huddled together he chuckled darkly reaching to grab Kiara "I just want the girl"

"No!" I growl and slash him across the face

"You little piece of-" he raises his paw with his unleashed claws to strike us.

**Ehsan's point of view**

When I got to the scene Simba was had a rogue pinned on the ground and was about to slash, I heard screams that I assume came from the cubs and my first reaction was to claw the back of the rogue's head as hard as I could, the lion fell on the ground unconscious

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" I ask the cubs, Kiara ran towards me with tears in her eyes, Kopa was quietly looking away breathing heavily, Kion pushed past him and I we go after him "Kion wait!" I skid halt when I see Mufasa lying on the ground and Simba standing next to him with his head down

"Wake up Grandpa!" he cries "you have to wake up" Kion nudged him but he didn't move

"Kion…" I say softly putting my paw on his back, he turns to look at me, then he looks at his siblings Kiara and she buries her head on Kopa's shoulder and he looks away from his brother as he pats Kiara's head softly, he then turns to his father

"He's gone" Simba says in a brittle voice

A somber feeling takes over to the Pridelands the rest of the lion guard helps carry Mufasa body back to pride rock, waiting outside as the rest of the pride they gasp and run to our encounter, Sarabi sobs by her husband while my mother holds her as she sheds tears of her own, the king and queen fought to hold back their tears and tried to comfort their traumatized cubs, every animal in the Pridelands seem to be quietly mourned the former king and I could do was look around and wonder why something like this had to happen to such an amazing lion.

We held a ceremony that night we gathered around Rafiki's tree, his body was buried so it can feed the grass and continue the circle of life.

Rafiki broke the silence mourning his fallen friend with a song "Madi ao, Leka sebete chia ho oele sebatha, Mo leka qeme o tsaba hoa, Lebo haleng ha o bue ka le ha Lebo haleng ha o bue ka le ha"

"Halala humba heh heh heya heeyahee Halala humba hela hela hela Halala humba heh heh heya heeyahee Halala humba hela hela hela" he continues singing and we join hoping it will help our pain fade away

_**-AN-**_

_**hey **__**y'all as you can see I'll be updating a lot more often since I finally have some time off let's see how long it lasts lol**_

_**oh yeah and the **__**song featured on this chapter is called "Rafiki Mourns" from the lion king on Broadway.**_

_**thank you for reviewing and following the story you are the bee's knees! :)**_

_**-az**_


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

**Nala's point of view**

we truly lost one of the greatest lions that ever lived our dear Mufasa, Sarabi was devastated never in my life I thought I would see the strongest lioness I know so vulnerable and depressed, we all tried our best to help her move on but it was impossible to do so since everything around here reminds her of him, she needed get away for some time to go back home see her brother and the lands she called home before she came to the Pridelands, not wanting her friend to go alone on the journey my mother decided to leave with Sarabi once the two arrived they sent a message with a bird, It's been a couple of months since we got that message and they still haven't returned, Simba has also been absent not fiscally but emotionally he's been quiet and standoffish since the night after Mufasa's ceremony when I tried talking to him but it I only made things worst.

"Simba what are you doing out here?" I nuzzled his cold fur, it was the middle of the night and he was still sitting outside by himself

"I don't understand Nala" he sighed shaking his head "that rogue barely gave him a couple of scratches, how can he possibly be dead? He survived to a lot worse than that"

I lowered my gaze and nodded slowly feeling guilty all of a sudden, I knew what happened to Mufasa he was sick and he probably died when his lungs collapsed from exhaustion "I just wish I knew what happened to him" after I told him he stared at me in silence for a while before saying something "you knew all along and you didn't tell me?"

I felt my eyes welling up with tears "I promised him I wouldn't; He said he was going to tell you himself but…" I tried explaining

He only shook his head with a pained expression in his face "you should have told me, I'm your husband you shouldn't keep anything from me"

"I know, but please understand Simba-"

"No, I don't understand Nala and it will be awhile before I do"

"Simba" I tried to nuzzle him but he moved away. That night I slept, accompanied only by the cubs. I know he's in a lot of pain and stressed by the pressures of ruling, and I was wrong to keep the truth from him so I've been giving him some space but truth be told I miss him.

"Play fair Kiara! No biting" Kion said making me glance at him with my tired eyes, Kiara and Kion were wrestling on the ground while Kopa sat next to me watching his siblings.

"I'm not biting you!" Kiara retorted

"Yes you are!" her brother pushed her off him "this is why I don't like playing you"

"Then go play with that little dumb friend of yours" she turned her head away

"Bunga is not dumb" he growls "he's very brave"

"Brave bordering on stupid" she smirks and Kion roars before pouncing on Kiara

"That's enough you two" I sigh tiredly separating the cubs, I can barely keep my eyes open from exhaustion without the help of my family it's hard to balance taking care of the triples and my responsibilities, Remember when I said I missed Simba? Well I also need him more than ever the cubs are growing fast and it's getting harder to control the three of them.

"But mom he called Bunga stupid" my son protested

"I know sweetie" I say to him and turn to my daughter "Kiara, stupid is a very mean and hurtful word and you know better than to use it"

She lowered her head and nodded before glancing at Kion and mumbling and apology, Kion scoffed and turned his face away from his sister "oh come on don't be mad little brother!" Kiara giggled messing Kion's growing tuff of red hair with her paw

"Whatever" He scowled pushing combing his hair back with his paw

The cubs settle down for a moment and I began bathing them one by one, Kopa sat in my paws and to my amazement he didn't protest he was quietly looking away and seemed to be lost in his thoughts

"Kopa"

"Uh?" he turns around to look at me

"I'm done with your bath" I smile giving him a final lick on his head

"Oh… right" he says and steps away so Kiara can take her turn

"What's with you today?" Kion chuckled glancing at his brother

"Nothing, I'm just thinking" he replies while he fixes the brown hairs on his head

"About?" Kiara asks with a curios look while I bathe her

"About that rogue that attacked us" Kopa replied, Kion and Kiara's smiles immediately faded "remember what he said?" he asked his siblings

"No" Kiara replied "and I don't want to remember anything about that day"

"Me neither and I think you should forget about that day too Kopa" Kion added glancing at his brother

"He was after Kiara; there must be a reason for that" Kopa mumbled, his siblings looked away from him to give me pleading look

"Kopa, your brother and sister don't want to talk about that day try to understand please" I told my son

"Okay…" he nods understanding; it hurts me to see the three this way without their usual upbeat cheerful personalities, so down casted and tense they get like this from time to time that day marked them through the nightmares and sad moments I try to be there and comfort them the best I can so they can overcome that awful experience.

I glance around me and I see the guards and Simba and approaching us with a serious expression in his face "Hey, how about I take you three to track gazelles with me?" I smile at them, the sun was still high in the sky it would be a good distraction for them

The cubs nod as they glance up at me with tiny smiles sneaking in to their faces, I get up and they follow my lead "are we going right now?" Kion asks I nod in response

"Where are you all going?" Simba asks with a worried look on his face

"Mama is taking us to track gazelles" Kopa replies

"We won't go anywhere near the borders" I say fighting the urge to roll my eyes at him

Simba glances at me and says "still, Ehsan and Malka will go with you" both lions nod before they and the cubs go wait to for me.

Do we really have to take guards wherever we go? Simba has been obsessed with security lately "fine. But should know, I'm more than capable of protecting and taking care my cubs on my own" I say glancing back to look at him before leaving "that's what I've been doing these past couple of months"


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

**Simba's point of view**

I watched Nala walk away, Hearing her said that made me feel angry with her and with myself because I know she's right I didn't know what to say or do, deep inside I want to go after her and apologize but part of me is still angry, hurt and confused I sighed as I lay down inside the den I fell asleep for longer than I intended I woke up hearing Kion, Kiara and Kopa laughing outside with the other cubs of the pride.

"Mama Can we play baobab ball for a while?" I heard Kopa asking

"Sure sweetie, go ahead" Nala replied, the group of cubs cheered before I heard them running off, I was going to leave the den when I heard Nala sigh deeply but I stopped when I realized she wasn't alone I stayed out of their sight.

"Long day?" Tama asked her

"Same as always" Nala yawned flopping down to ground next to her friend "how's little Tiifu doing?"

"Oh she's just fine" Tama chuckled holding her youngest daughter close to her "it's a lot easier with her than it was with Vitani, I have my paws full with just two I'm not like you Nal, I can't do it all" Tama laughed

"Me neither" Nala said in a low voice

"Nal, are you okay?" her friend asked

"Yeah…" Nala shrugged with a smile that was obviously faked at least to me "I'm- I'm just tired. Being a mother the leader of the hunting party, the queen and wife, it's a lot" she said sounding like she was on the verge of tears, Tama placed her paw on Nala's "I feel stupid for complaining cause I'm sure no queen before me did, but I'm honestly exhausted this is all just too much me and I've started to think that maybe I'm not meant to be-"

"Nala don't say that you are doing wonderfully, if anyone can handle all this is you, but you need to relieve some of the responsibilities" Tama interrupted her "we can help you out with the cubs if you want"

"Oh Tam I couldn't ask any of you to do that, you have your own cubs to worry about" Nala said shaking her head

"Then ask Simba, I know he's the king and all but he's also your husband and the father of the cubs"

"I-I can't do that" Nala replied with a small voice.

I leaved the den using the back door I needed to figure out how to make things with Nala I know that it can't be fixed in one day but I have to at try, I didn't want to be seen by the rest of the pride but I had no luck.

"Just go play with the other cubs Zuri" Tika told her daughter

"But mom, what I break a claw or something?" her daughter protested

"Go, now!" Tika commanded rather loudly before she walked towards me with a grin on her face "hey there your majesty"

"Hello Tika" I say with a nod

"What are you doing out here all alone?" she asks getting closer to me

"I was actually going somewhere" I said stepping back to put some distance between us

"Oh me too, Where are you headed?" she inquired

"I'm going to Rafiki's" I answer

"Me too" she smiles "let's go together"

**Nala's point of view**

It was starting to get dark after talking to Tama and I went looking for the cubs, I stopped dead on my tracks when I saw Simba with Tika I watched them talk for a moment then I felt my stomach tie up in a knot when I saw Simba looking around before following Tika, it felt like everything around me was in a blur I took a deep breathe to stop the tears from leaving my eyes and I went back to searching the cubs after I found I took them back to the den.

"Where's dad?" Kion asked

"I don't know Ki" I said trying to act normal

"Daddy didn't kissed me goodnight" Kiara looked down at her paws

Kopa glanced at his sister and then at me "mama's here to kiss you goodnight Kiki" he said smiling at his sister

She nodded and nuzzled me "goodnight mommy, I love you"

"I love you too Kiki" I smiled licking her sweet little face, and proceeding to do the same with my sons.

everyone around me fell asleep fast, I wasn't able to sleep at first with my mind racing with a million thoughts and emotions unconsciously I waiting for Simba to return but at the same time I didn't knew what I would say or do once he did, I glanced to my side to his empty side of the platform and come to the realization that I won't be able to sleep in this den tonight I go outside and walk around aimlessly until I reach the small cave that used to be scar's lair now completely sure that I was alone I allowed myself to let our the tears I've held back not only today but this past couple of months ,eventually exhaustion wan over me and dozed off.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

**Simba's point of view**

I walked ahead at a fast pace not particularly interested on the conversation Tika was trying to have with me, my only concern was getting to Rafiki's. I figured that since he was the one that knocked some sense back in to my stubborn teenage head maybe he could do the same now.

"For the last time, there is nothing wrong with you" an exasperated Rafiki told Tika after checking the supposedly sick lioness over and over again "at least not fiscally"

She rolled her eyes "that's rude"

"Not as rude as you are being right now, making me waste my time" Rafiki retorted Tika turned her head away from him to glance at me

"Tika maybe you should head back home" I say "Zuri must be waiting for you"

"But Simba I thought you might want some company on your way back home" she smiled

"Eh…no, not really but thank you anyways" I answer

"I wouldn't mind waiting for you" she insists

"Kings above, can't you see he's just being polite? but he really wants you to leave!" Rafiki exclaims irritated "the king came here to talk to me in private"

"He's right about that" I say

"Fine" she mutters "thanks for nothing you crazy baboon"

I open my mouth to defend Rafiki but he beats me to speak "I'm not the crazy one here!" He laughs and she turns around angrily and storms off, Rafiki then turns to me and asks "how can old Rafiki help you?"

"I just need some guidance, and with my parents gone you're the only one I can turn to" I sigh

"I'm honored" he nods "what seems to be the problem?"

"Me. I'm the problem I haven't been the same since my father's death" I tell him "the bad things inside my head keep overshadowing the good ones"

"I see, I think I know what the problem is" he nodded grabbing some fruits and herbs and mixing them in a turtle shell "you see, every positive emotion can be canceled by a negative one just like s positive one can cancel a negative one" he explains

"Okay… is that mixture going to fix this?" I ask signaling at the shell

"Oh no this is my dinner" he laughs "you are going to have to fix this by yourself"

"Rafiki I already told you I've been trying but-" I protest but he interrupts me

"Close your eyes" he commands and I raise an eyebrow at him "do you want to get better or not?

"Okay, okay" I say sitting down, closing my eyes and taking in a deep breath

"What are you most afraid of?" he says "Let your fears become clear to you"

sudenlly a vision came to me I saw the Pridelands on fire and heard many cries for help and saw Nala and the cubs surrounded by flame, I recoil in terror and I open my eyes

"Simba, your vision is not real you must accept that you're afraid and surrender those fears so you can let go of them" he says in a serene voice and I close my eyes again

"I fear not being able to protect my family and kingdom" I say and in my mind I see the flames completely enfolding everything but then the flames vanish and my tense face immediately relaxes

"Good, lets continue" Rafiki whispered "Pleasure is blocked by guilt, look at all the guilt which burdens you. What do you blame yourself for?"

"I've hurt the ones I love. I ran away, my father got injured when I did and that eventually killed him" I whisper and in my vision the tears of my family and pride members start to form sea that traps me in its waves

"Accept the reality that these things happened, but do not let them cloud and poison your energy. If you are to be a positive influence on the world, you need to forgive yourself" the wise monkey spoke, I drew in a deep breath and then exhaled and the sea in my vision begins to dry up

"You must reopen your heart to love; it has been blocked by grief" he continues "lay all your grief out in front of you" the first thing I saw the cub Nala and I lost before having the triplets, the small cub was surrounded by a golden light rising to the sky like the sun as I looked up at it my father walked pass and smiled before he too light up to ascend to the sky, in the real world I felt tears streaming down my face.

"You have indeed felt a great loss. But love is a form of energy, and it swirls all around us. The love your father and unborn cub had for you has not left this world it is still inside of your heart, and is reborn in the form of new love" he said as I wipe away the tears as I picture Nala cradling newborn Kion, Kopa and Kiara in her paws "Let the pain flow away. Your father wouldn't you to live with so many negative emotions, you must remember Simba, he lives in you and he watches over everything you do" he says and I open my eyes and he gives me a supportive smile "so live your life like he was still here"

"Thank you Rafiki" I smile back before giving him hug "I feel much better now"

"Good, good" he says grabbing his stick and standing up

I stood up and sighed thoughtfully "I know what I have to do but I don't know if Nala will forgive me I've- OHCH geez!" in the middle of my sentence Rafiki grabbed his stick and smacked me in the head yet again

"She loved you enough to marry you; she will forgive you" he grinned, sitting back down and eating from the turtle shell "Go get out of here!" I abide and hurry back home, I really hope he's right.


	15. Chapter 15

_**-AN-**_

_**Hello there! I forgot to add the author's note on chapter 13 and as you guessed it was indeed based on an episode of one of my favorite TV shows of all time Avatar: the last airbender, the guru reminded me of Rafiki and I thought this would be the best way for Simba to heal, anyways enjoy the chapter!**_

_**-**_**_AZ_**

**Chapter 15 **

**Simba's point of view**

The first thing I noticed when I got back home is that; Kiara Kopa and Kion were sleeping peacefully on the platform but Nala wasn't there I stepped back outside and looked around for a while I was beginning to worry but I decided to check the caves surrounding pride rock and I found her curled up and sleeping inside one of them, I took a step towards her and she jumped up and backed away

"It's okay, it's just me" I said

"I can see that" she said still startled

"I worried when I didn't saw you back home" I smiled and walked towards her but she took a step back and frowned "what's wrong?"

She scoffed and looked away "wow you really have no shame, coming here this late and talking to me like nothing's wrong"

"I'm really sorry" I sigh looking down "I know I've been neglecting our relationship and the cubs lately but I needed some time and space to-"

"I get that you're mad at me for not telling you about your father" she interrupted with a cracking voice "but how could you do this to me?" I lower my gaze ashamed of much hurt I've been causing her

"Nala-" I shake my head slowly looking up at her tear-filled eyes

"I know Tika is attractive and that you two have a past but I'm your wife and the mother of your cubs" she cried

"What?" I ask with wide eyes

"I saw you sneaking away with her" she said "I'm not good enough for you anymore?"

"Nala, you are much more than I deserve" I say with tears burning my eyes "I would never betray you like that "She closes her eyes lips quiver "I swear she just tagged along when I was going to Rafiki's but then she left and I stayed talking to Rafiki" I explain to her putting taking her soft paw in mine "please you have to trust me" She gazes into my eyes for a moment before slowly pulling her paw away and setting her eyes on the ground and I sigh "the fact that you don't shows me just how much I've damaged our relationship" she remains silent but looks up at me those beautiful aqua eyes that made me fall for her when we were still just cubs I can't lose her again, I won't lose her again "I'll do whatever it takes to fix the damage I've caused"

"You could start by spending more time the cubs" she said quietly "they miss you"

"I them too" I murmur standing next to her in an awkward silence for a second "I'll take them for a walk in the morning, would you like to come with us?"

"I-I have some things to do" she retorted

"Oh" I say a little hurt

"But I promised I to take them stargazing tonight" she continued "you could come with us"

"I will, thanks for inviting me" I answer giving her a small smile but she looks away

"We should head back" she spoke "I don't them to wake up without me- us there"

Nala and I walk back home in silence, she lays on the left side of the platform and I lay on the right with the Kion, Kiara and Kopa between us.

As soon as the sun rose I took the cubs out for a walk and I'm not going to lie I did ask Ehsan and the rest of the guard to stay close by in case anything happened but the cubs don't need to know that.

**Kion's points of view**

"Daddy, what are those?" Kiara asks turning her head to the side I look ahead while walked through the Pridelands with dad

"Those are meerkats, princess" he smiles down at her

"Wow! I've never met one before" I exclaim

"Can we go see them dad?" Kopa asks with a smile

"That's just what we were about to do their colony just moved to the Pridelands and because I've been so busy I haven't given them the official welcome" he replies "you three are going to help me with that" we smile from ear to ear as we walked towards the meerkats colony.

"Your majesty" a female meerkat bows before us "what an honor to have you here, I'm the leader of this colony but we prefer to think of it as a family, you can call me Ma" my siblings and I exchange amused looks when hearing her name

"I apologize for not visiting any sooner… Ma, but my responsibilities didn't allowed me to do so" dad explains to her

"Oh no worries you have a kingdom and a family to take care of-" the leader smiled turning to the cubs and exclaiming "oh my! I could just squeeze the life out of you three, you are the cutest lion cubs I've ever met" we were a taken aback by what she said but smiled at her politely

"You don't know any other lion cubs Ma" a younger male meerkat walked towards us with his arms crossed over his chest

"Please excuse him…" she laughed nervously "this is my son, Timmy-"

"Timon" he corrects "how do you do?"

"Pleased to meet you" my dad says before introducing us "these are my cubs Kiara, Kion and Kopa"

"Oh you must meet my grandson Freddy" Ma says pulling a young meerkat that unlike the other two redheaded ones had raven black hair "come on Freddy greet the king his cubs"

"Hey" the youngest meerkat said awkwardly, dad continued the conversation he was having with the other ones "so… you two are twins?" he asked gesturing to Kiara and me

"Actually we're triplets" I say gesturing to the three of us

The meerkat stroke his chin as he walked around Kopa examining "are you sure?" and then stopped crossing his arms again "he looks nothing like your father with the brown mane and the blue eyes"

Kopa frowned and muttered "yes we're sure"

"He just looks like our mother" Kiara rolled her eyes, she doesn't really talking to animals that aren't lions that much

"Yeah, he gets his girly eyes from her" I bat my lashes to tease Kopa and he glares at me

"Don't feel bad kid, I look like my mother too" Freddy said with a shrug "at least that's what dad says I've never met her"

"What happened to her?" I ask

"She left because she couldn't stand me and my dad" he shrugged

"That's the same reason why I want to leave" Kiara muttered I shushed her and she shrugged

"I'm sorry to hear that" I told Freddy "hey you should come to pride rock to play with us, right guys?" I said glancing at my siblings; Kiara widened her eyes while Kopa wore his thinking face staring off in to the distance "or… you could play with me and my friend Bunga"

"Bunga?" he asked "a stupidly brave bad smelling honey badger?" Kiara laughed and then raised an eyebrow at me

"Yes…" I mutter glaring at her "how do you know him?"

"He's my cousin" he shudders "so I think I'll pass on your offer"

"Oh… okay well- wait how are you two related?" I turn my head to the side curious

"Well you see my father-" Freddy began but before he could explain dad called us and we had to leave.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

**Kiara's point of view**

Luckily we didn't had to stay at the meerkat colony for much longer, daddy brought us home so he could do his kingly stuff and we had the whole afternoon to play with our friends.

"What game should we play?" Rani asked with excitement in her brown eyes

"Oh I know!" Kion exclaims raising his paw "let's play baobab ball"

"We already played that yesterday" Sita says rolling dark blue eyes

"Why do we even have to play a game?" Zuri whined

"Because it's fun" I answer raising an eyebrow at her

"But Kiara I just sharpened my claws, look how shiny they are" she told me extending her claws to show me

"Right …" said Nuka rolling his green eyes "anyways back to the subject"

"Has anyone thought of a game?" ask glancing around the group and when look at my distracted brother he comes back to the real world

"She asked what do you thing we should we play" Vitani snapped "pay attention would you"

Kopa only shrugged ignoring her "how about Hunter and preys?"

"That game is so boring!" Kion complained

"I'll be the hunter!" Rani says exited and all us with the except Kion starts running away from her

"Hello Kion?" I say "you're supposed to run"

"I'm gonna go see if Bunga wants to play baobab ball" he answered

"Fine" I roll my eyes at them, typical Kion. when we're about to resume our game I see Zazu flying over us and landing next to Kopa "Hello prince Kopa, would you like to continue with the pridelands history lesson?" The hornbill asks

"Oh yes, that'd be great" Kopa smiles and follows Rafiki "excuse me guys, I have to go"

"I wanna go with you!" Vitani says and we all look at her "this game kinda lame anyways" she shrugs, Kopa's eyes widen and she shoves him "move it fluffy!"

"Let's just get back the game" I sigh, I don't know which one of them is weirder Kion for him preferring to spend his time with the stinky honey badger or Kopa for wanting to spend his time learning.

**Nala's point of view**

The first thing I did this morning after Simba and the cubs left was going to Rafiki's home I hate to admit it but I needed him to confirm Simba's story after he did I felt a little embarrassed for accusing him of cheating and Simba was right our relationship is damaged, but with us nothing has happened that we can't fix.

While I running some errands I saw a speck of red in the distance by the waterhole I watched him from afar and noticed he was alone so I decided it was the perfect moment to talk to him, in that moment I don't know what took over me but my walking accelerated in to a sprint

Simba turned around to face me but he didn't had time to react when I jumped on him and pinning him down to the ground, he looked up at me with his eyes wide open "Nala?" he asked

I was out of breath and my heart was racing since I had my paws pressing down on his chest I could feel his was too "pinned ya?" I laughed nervously

He stared dumb folded for a second and then a goofy grin crept into his face "you did" he chuckled

"Can we forget about all this?" I asked "I-I've really missed you"

"I've missed you too" he said looking into my eyes and caressing my cheek, I lowered myself to nuzzle his face and he wrapped his arms around me and whispering "I love you"

"I love you too" I say using his mane as a pillow "and I'm sorry" I whispered

"For pinning me?" he smirked

"No…" I giggled but then I sighed "for not believing you I-"

"You don't have to apologize" he said "I'm sorry"

"You've already apologized enough" I tell him "I just want things to go to normal"

"Is that what you really want?" he asks pulling me close I nod and he smirks and with jerking motion he makes us both roll in to the waterhole I shriek when the cold water hit me and Simba only laughs

"And what was that for?!" I demand as I stand up

"You scared me to death when I saw you charging towards me like that!" he replied still sitting on the shallow part of the water "I thought you were going for the kill"

"Don't be ridiculous" I laughed "I know I was mad but I would never do that"

"Oh really?" he raised an eyebrow "remember when you tried to drown me in the jungle when I got you mad?"

"Things were different then" I shrugged

"True…" he nodded

I smirked "We were not married, we didn't had cubs, you were not the king and-" I paused for a moment and continued with dead serious face "There weren't any witnesses" His eyes widen and I laughed splashing water on his face and he laughs along "let's go home"

"Whatever you say kifo malaika" he follows me and teases calling me 'death angel'.

That night the five of us were laying down admiring the stars while Kopa explained to his siblings what he had learned from Rafiki, Zazu and his grandparents

"That one over there is Mohatu's star" he pointed "he was our great-great grandfather and he ended the worst drought in the history of the Pridelands and Rafiki says that if you're ever lost all you have to do is follow that star to find water"

"that's correct Kopa" Simba smiles at our son

"Is there a star I can follow to find food?" Kion asked and Kiara giggled "I'm starving"

"There's some zebra leftover in the den" I say

"I wouldn't mind eating either" Kiara raced to the den

"Hey that's mine!" Kion followed

Kopa sighed and lay his head on his paws "I can't believe we're related"

"They grow up will someday" Simba says "I hope…"


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

**6 months later**

**Kion's point of view **

"Kion!" I could hear my siblings yelling at me in my sleep but I decided to ignore them for as long as I could, I can't deal with them this early in the morning

"Wake up you stinky dump beetle!" Kiara grunted and don't even how she managed to do this since I'm lot bigger than her now but she pushed so hard she made me fall off the platform we slept

"Hey!" I protest furious, I look up at her and she's glaring at me along with Kopa what's the deal with you these two? "Why did you do that?"

"You wouldn't wake up any other way!" Kopa said. He's got to be kidding me …

"So you decided to push me!?" I spat

"Kiara pushed you, not me" Kopa pointed out and I turned to glare at her

"Oh you're putting the blame on me?" Kiara said appalled and then pointed at Kopa "you told me to do it!"

"I didn't think you would" my brother defended himself "you never what anyone tells you!" he does have a point Kiara never listens she's the rebel of group, but Kopa would say anything to get himself out of trouble so I'm going to let mom decide who's to blame, I look around and realize that not only is she gone but so is dad and the rest of the pride "guys" I say interrupting their banter and they turn to look at me "where is everybody?"

"That's why we woke you up" Kopa said standing up and signaling for us to follow "We have to go look for them"

"Let's go then" I say walking behind the two "and by the way I'm telling mom and dad you guys pushed me"

"Let's just focus on finding them first" my brother says with a determined glint in his eyes. Once outside looked around and saw that pride rock was deserted

"Young masters!" Zazu comes flying over us says in a panicked voice "you must come to Rafiki's tree immediately!" We glanced at each other with the same concerned look in our faces and without saying anything we ran after Zazu he didn't tell us what was going on and I was getting worried, oh kings I hope nothing too bad happened.

We when we got to the three, there was no one around "Zazu what's going-?" Kopa asked but Zazu was also gone

"Surprise!" the three of us were startled when our parents, the whole pride and our friends pop out from behind the tree, I turn to my brother and sister and they were just as surprised as I was.

"Okay…" a wide-eyed Kiara said

"What in the Pridelands is going on here?" I ask perplex

Mom and dad were the first ones to approach us with smiles on their faces "happy birthday!" they say, we glance at each other and our frowns turn to smiles then Zazu flies down from the branches above placing flower crowns on each of our heads

"You scared us to death Zazu!" Kiara tells him

"I really tricked you, didn't I?" He laughs,

"Wow! Everyone we know is here" I exclaim seeing a lot of familiar smiling faces crowded around

"Even us!" a voice exclaims and my jaw dropped, I recognize that voice and I know my siblings did to cause they also turned to see where it came from, the crowd parted and we saw them, our grandmothers smiling at us

"Grandma Sarafina! Grandma Sarabi!" Kopa ran towards them hugging them followed by me and my sister

"You didn't think we were going to miss your first birthday, did you?" grandma Sarabi said as the three of hugged her and grandma Sarafina

"Oh look at you three!" my mom's mom said beaming down at us "so grown up"

Grandma Sarabi turned to my sister "Kiara you're as pretty as a magnolia in May" she said making Kiara smile brightly, she then turned to Kopa "my dear Kopa, you are one handsome prince" my brother gives her a bashful smile before she turns to me with a sad smile "and you Kion, you're the spitting image of your grandfather" we hug for a second and then she says "why don't you go enjoy the celebration?"

**Kopa's point of view**

After greeting our grandmothers, we went back to our parents to greet rest of the pride, our friends and different animals of the Pridelands, they each approached us to wish us a happy birthday, one of the last one we had to greet was my parent's friends Malka and Tama with their daughter's Vitani and Tiifu

"Have a good one you three!" Tama said with a smile with Tiifu standing behind her paws and Vitani standing next to her with her usual grouchy face

"Yeah, enjoy your youth but not as much as your father did!" Malka laughed elbowing my father getting a glare in response from him and Tama, while my mom simply laughed at the scene

"Anyways, girls don't you want wish the triplets a happy birthday?" she says nudging her youngest daughter Tiifu to come forward

"ha-happy birthday" she says quietly looking down at her paws, she was a shy and sweet girl unlike her sister and I hope she stays that way

"Aw Thanks Tiifu" I smile at her placing my flower crown on her head

"But that's yours" she gasps looking up at me

"I want you to have it" I tell her with a smile

"Thank you very much prince Kopa" she beams hugging me, everyone present smiles except for Vitani she only rolls her eyes and walks toward us

"Let go of him Tiifu or you're going to catch fluffy's germs" she says pulling her sister away from me and earning a laugh at my expense from my siblings.

"Kion, Kiara, fluffy. Happy birthday" glancing first at my siblings and then at me with a smirk

"Vitani!" her parents scolded her as they walked away, what is her deal? She's always calling me names, insulting me, making fun of me and snapping at me, I try to remain calm and even be nice to her, but she's really starting to get into my bad side. My sister puts a supporting paw on my shoulder and I smile at my family deciding to move on and enjoy my birthday.

Some birds started singing a melody while Bunga and his cousin Freddy the meerkat joined them producing beats with an fallen log, the music was amazing, the food was great and everyone was having a good time and believe it or not I was actually enjoying being in company of my siblings.

"Bunga and Freddy can be irritating at times, but they sure got rhythm" Kiara said bobbing her head to the music

"Yeah" I agreed and then turned to my brother "Hey Kion, did Bunga ever tell you how he and Freddy are related?"

"Oh yeah" he nodded "Freddy's father Timon was-"

"Hey Kion!" Rani and Sita interrupt

"Oh hey girls" My brother smiles at the brown eyed sisters

"Wanna dance?" Sita asks

"I wanted to ask him that!" Rani tells her sister

"But I did it fist" Sita smirks and Rani glares at her

"Calm down girls, I can dance with both of you" Kion smirks and begins to follow her to where everyone else was dancing

"Hey you were in the middle of a story!" I yell

"I'll tell ya some other time bro!" he yells back without even looking at me

"Did our little brother just ditched us to go dance with two girls?" Kiara blinked

"I think he did..."


	18. Chapter 18

**-AN-**

**Machine Dragon **

**travass**

**Carmen738**

**zuka4one**

**I just wanted to give you guys a special shout out and thank you for your constant reviews you have no idea how happy it makes me to read them :)**

**I hope each of you had a wonderful Christmas! **

**love.**

**-Ali**

**Chapter 18**

**Kiara's point of view**

Today daddy woke us up early to begin our morning royal lessons like he had been doing this past few months to Kopa's delight it was the same routine every day except for yesterday since it was our birthday, and while Kion and I like spending time with our father the schedule takes some getting used to we're supposed to rise before the sun and walk around the lands trying to absorb all the information he imparts and we wouldn't come back home until noon the first few weeks the morning lessons were fun but now they were starting to become tedious.

"Come on, it's time to go" daddy said smiley as always with my teal eyed brother already up and ready to go, how him and Kopa in such good moods at this time is beyond me

"Guys we're waiting" Kopa said impatiently, I covered my face with my paws and sighed next to me Kion mumbled incoherently and mom looked at us amused

"Can't we sleep in for once?" Kion said after my mom nuzzled him

"Please?" I pleaded laying my head on mom's paws

"Okay…you two can stay" Dad sighed and then turned to Kopa "do you want to stay too?"

"No dad, I wanna go with you" he answered and dad smiled at him before the two said goodbye and left

"I wanna go with you dad" Kion rolled his amber eyes mocking Kopa's voice "nerd, no wonder Vitani bullies him so much" he laughed and mom shot him a warning glare "sorry mom…" Kion grumbled, I simply sighed and laid my head back trying to get some more sleep.

The morning went by fast I got to spend time with my friends practicing our hunting skills, I truly enjoyed this and tough know I'm not the best huntress but I know I could improve if I had more time to practice, when my mom was my age she spent most of her day practicing and that's how she became the best huntress in the world but so far it seems like I'll never have the chance to do so, because after lunch mom and dad told us that we would begin our combat training this afternoon today we would have to go against each other for the first time so our parents could evaluate our skills, the pride was around ready to watch our training kiln was talking to Vitani

"Good luck out there princess!" Vitani said as Kopa and I approached them

"Uh thanks…" I said unsure

"Oh I'm sorry Kiara" she smirked and turned to my brother "I was actually talking to princess fluffy" Kopa rolled his eyes how is he not mad? I mean Vitani is my friend but she is really mean to him.

"Vitani-" Kion interfered but Kopa stopped him

"Thank you" that's Kopa for ya, cool as a breeze

"What did I just tell you?" Kion told her trough gritted teeth does he know something I don't? He probably does he's closer to her than I am.

"Shut up Kion" she snapped and my brother laughed while Kopa and I stared at them suspiciously "I gotta go" she spat and went to sit with her family when she saw our parents approaching.

"Kion and Kopa you'll go first" daddy said and my brothers stood up in in front of each other while mom and I went to sit in a boulder, I was a bit nervous I don't really like violence and neither does Kopa the only time I've seen his aggressive side was when he clawed that rogue on the face but that was a life or death situation, Kopa is the tallest out of the three and he has an athletic build but Kion has a more muscular frame and I well I'm smaller than them but I'm a lioness and we're always stronger than we look.

"Remember no clawing or biting we just want to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses, you may begin"

The two started circling each other for a moment before Kion threw the first blow which Kopa ducked my red manned brother attacked repeatedly while and my brown manned brother easily maneuver around him, jumping, and side stepping, appearing to flow around his opponent without expending any energy at all, and although he had many openings to attack he never did the fight came to an end when Kion tried to pounce on him but instead fell and rolled on the ground after missing his target "alright I'm done, you win!" Kion panted the whole pride was silent even me, I mean is Kopa half cheetah or gazelle or something? Wow. Kopa kept a soft face as he walked up to Kion and helped him up, and then he turned towards Vitani who had his mouth open but tried to regain her composure when he narrowed his eyes at her.

I turned to my parents and they were turned to look at each other with wide eyes "Well Kopa, I've never seen such a defense…" mom began "I guess we would need to work on your offence and Kion you have great technique and strength but we need to improve your precision"

"Good job sons" dad smiled at them and then turned to me "who would you like to go against Kiara?" ha! This was a no brainer I chose Kion of course, how could I beat Kopa if couldn't even touch him?

My fight with Kion was a bit more dynamic he attacked and I dodged, I attacked and he blocked. After a while I took a small opening to pounce on his back holding on to his mane with all my strength "Fight fair Kiara!" He said trying to shake me off losing his balance I take the opportunity and used my own weight to slam us both of our backs on the ground with a loud thud, I'm not gonna let that hurt but I tried to play it cool, Kion grunted in pain "fight's over!" mom and dad said as they helped us both up

"I hate you" Kion snarled and I only laughed

"That was… an interesting technique Kiara" mom commented

"But when in combat we try to hurt your opponent not ourselves princess" Daddy said putting his paw on my back with a smirk

"I know daddy" I giggle "that but I was going down I had to take him with me"

"That's the spirit, I guess" dad chuckled

"You three did a great job today" mom said rubbing Kion's back

"Yes you´re dismissed, go ahead and enjoy the rest of the afternoon" daddy smiled.

We then went to our friends, Kopa completely stole the show today he won the fight without even fighting so Kion and I stepped back and let him have his moment of glory, the girls surrounded him asking him questions talking at the same time while Kopa laughed awkwardly.

I decided to go back to the den and rest but then Kion came running and yelling hysterically and dragging me out "Kiara come here! You have to see this"

"What! What is it? " I ask following him through the tall vegetation to the waterhole not too far away from there was Kopa drinking "Kion aren't we a little old to play pray and hunter?" I roll my eyes and he shushes me

"Just watch this is gonna be good" Kion grinned

**Kopa's point of view**

I don't really see what the big deal was today, I simply refused to hurt my brother or get hurt by him, my parents they say combat training is necessary and although I'm a pacifist at heart but I didn't wanted to disobey them, anyways I needed a moment alone and a drink I'm not used to being the center of attention I usually have to share it with my siblings after I escaped the crow I went to the waterhole. I was swallowing the refreshing liquid when I heard someone approaching me I turned and jumped a little when I saw Vitani standing there.

"Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you" she said plainly walking towards the water "I don't think I could anyways…" she chuckled lightly "not even Kion could" I stared at her as she drank some water waiting for one of her abrasive comments to come my way "You- um you did great today" she said forcing out the compliment and a smile

"Uh… thanks?" I said with an eyebrow raised and keeping a serious face

Her smile fell and she sighed loudly "you're making this harder than it already is"

"Making what harder?" I ask

"Being nice to you" she answered

"Why would you try to be nice to me?" I enquire

"You should be happy! Why do you even question it?" she scoffed

"Because you've always been mean to me and for you to suddenly try to be nice it's very suspicious …" I say "just tell me why"

"No reason" she laughed nervously "I-I um I just feel bad"

"Why?" I turn my head to the side

"Gee fluffy I don't know! Maybe because I've been horrible to you and torturing you for as long as I can remember!" she said sardonically, oh there it is the Vitani I know

"Of course you have" I say "but why would you feel bad all of a sudden? You hate me"

"Be-cause, uh I guess maybe I don't hate you as much as I said I did, okay?" she stutters looking away from me "I guess I kinda like you a little maybe even a lot and I I'm really sorry to have treated you the way I did I don't know why I did it you didn't deserve it, I guess dad's right I do have mom's attitude problems"

"You don't hate me?" I ask and she responds with a shake of her head, I stay silent for a moment looking at her how vulnerable she looked as if I could be destroy with a single unkind word, in that moment I remember something my grandfather had told me long ago "_it's easy to hate it takes strength to be gentle and kind_" I smiled thinking of him and his words and decided to be strong cause I knew I could "well, I don't hate you either Vitani"

"You don't?" she asked in a small voice

"Nope" I laugh softly "and I forgive you, so I guess the next step is becoming friends?" She nodded enthusiastically and gave me a tight hug which caught off guard but eventually I returned it.

We walked back to the den together and said goodnight, I've learned a lot about myself today I'm a lot stronger than I think, maybe not physically like my brother but my heart is.

"Oh hi Kopa" Kion and Kiara were sitting with huge grins on their faces and breathing heavily I eyed them suspiciously they went on "where were you?"

"At the waterhole" I say simply laying down

"Anything interesting happened while you were there? Ouch!" Kiara asked getting elbowed by Kion

"Oh I think you two saw what happened when you were spying on me and Vitani" I answer "you know, before you came back here running and tried to act cool"

"What! We would never do such a thing-" Kion laughed and I raised an eyebrow at him "okay we did"

"Yeah, we saw what happened" Kiara admitted "but we couldn't hear anything, so tell us!" I also learned something about my siblings, that they are extremely nosey and don't know boundaries.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

**Simba's point of view **

Today's lesson consisted of only me and Kopa for the second day on the row, Kion and Kiara asked to stay home saying that their backs still hurt from yesterday's combat training "Dad you don't really believe their excuse, do you?" Kopa asked as we walked out of the den

I chuckled lightly, I'd really like to believe that they enjoy the lessons and that they dread the idea of missing one but so I've been cutting them some slack but I mean come on I'm their father, I know them just like I know myself "of course not, I know have used all the excuses in the book and even added some of my own to not go on my own royal lessons"

"Then why didn't you make them to come with us?" my brown manned son inquired

"My father had no choice since I was his only son, but forcing them to come like he did with me would only make things worst" I say, I honestly don't want them to start lying and rebelling against me now that they're close to their teens I shudder at the thought of having to deal with two teenage version of myself

"If you say so- I'm not here to tell you how to do your job" he shrugs unconvinced "but I think they should take their responsibilities more seriously" tough Kopa was a bit of a trouble maker as a cub I've seen a change and grow to become the complete opposite of who I was at his age. he's mature, responsible, driven, dedicated and disciplined traits he inherited from Nala along with those teal eyes.

"Kion and Kiara aren't that bad, they just want to have fun and eventually they'll grow up just like I did" I smile

"Whatever you say dad…" he sighed "I just hope it doesn't take them as long as it took you" he said sounding just like his mother and I couldn't help but to laugh

**Kion's point of view **

"Hey Ki" Kiara nudged me awake

"Ki-on" I roll my eyes "my name is Kion"

"Okay, okay Kiongozi" she chuckles using my full name "does your back really hurt?"

"Uh…" I look around the empty den "nope not really, I just didn't wanted to go with dad today"

"That's what I wanted to hear" she smiled mischievously "come on"

"Where are we going?" I ask following her

"We are going to the outlands" she said simply

"It's a long walk there" I say

"Yep, so we might as well get going" she grinned

"Kiara I know you're not the brightest star in the sky" I roll my eyes "but I think even you can understand that mom and dad will be furious when they notice our absence"

She glared at me and spoke "dad and Kopa will be gone the whole morning and mom doesn't know we stayed home today so when come back from her hunt she'll think we're with dad"

"We won't even make it to the borders with the guard patrolling the lands" I remark

"Not with that attitude" she giggles and I narrow my eyes at her "even if we don't make it to the outlands it'll be a fun brother and sister adventure"

"It won't be if dad finds out that we lied about our backs hurting to sneak out"

"He won't" she argues "if we get caught we'll tell him that we were feeling a lot better so we went looking for him"

"And you actually think he'll believe us?" I raise an eyebrow at her dumb excuse

"He'll believe me" she says with a smug smile "his little princess"

"You do have that power over him…" I say "but I'm still not sure"

"Come on Kion!" she whines "don't be such a Kopa" what! I'm not the stick in the mud brother like Kopa, I'm Kion the fun one and it's been a while since we had an adventure so…

"Okay let's go!" I cave in and excitement took over me as we ran out of the den heading east. We made avoiding the guard in to a game and after walking for a while we got there, it was a horrible deserted place with a bad vibe to it...

"There's nothing interesting here" I say trying to hide my nerves "let's just go home"

"What are you afraid of?" she rolled her eyes at me

"I'm not afraid" I argue "but there's something about this place that makes me feel uneasy"

"You said it yourself there's nothing here, let's explore for a while and then we'll leave" she says and I stupidly follow her inside a giant termite

"Wow" I say looking around, there were tunnels leading in every direction

"See? This is pretty cool" Kiara turns to me with a smirk and continues to speak as we walk inside one of the tunnels "I told you this was a great idea to come here"

I hear steps and become alerted immediately "shut up, listen" I whisper

She listens and her face goes pale "there's someone coming"

"All we have to do is go and out, easy" a voice in the distance said and we stood still and in silence hoping the darkness would conceal our presence

"I'm not sure about this, the Pridelands guard is legendary" another voice argued

"So?" the first one spat

"You do realize that everyone that tried to cross the border before us is dead now, don't you?!" The second voice asked

"This is a high risk, high reward job" the first voice explained

"Why does Zambra want us to capture Simba's daughter anyways?" the voice mumbled and a gasp escaped Kiara's throat, I covered her mouth with my paw

"What was that?" the voice says and starts sniffing the air in our direction

"Oh crap… what if it's one of Simba's guards?" the other one says sounding nervous

"Don't be stupid, we're not in his lands" the first voice says coming closer to our direction "it's coming from here" I pull Kiara along and we run deeper in to the tunnel until we reach a dead end we look around desperately there was hole above us but there was no way we could climb out

"What are we gonna do?" Kiara with a brittle voice, I hear the steps approaching us and I squeeze my sister's shaky paw with my own

"Would you look at that fur and that red mane you must be one of the princes" a dark manned lion says stepping in to the light and looking at me and then turning to my sister "and you-must be the princess"

"Seems like we won't have to put our pelts at risk crossing the borders to get what we need" a blonde male laughed, I stood in front of Kiara and growled at them

"Just move aside" the first male sneered

"No, you will not take her" I said in a low voice

"There's no one here to protect her" He laughed and the other one chimed in. I froze with fear at that moment what can I do? He's right there's no one here to protect her not dad, not grandpa he said he would be always be there when we needed him, anger flowed through me when I thought about what happened to him when he was trying to protect us the least I could do was follow his example and be brave so I opened my mouth and took in all the air I could praying to the kings of the past to roar along with me.

**Simba's point of view**

"ROAR" a loud roar shook the lands as I heard the morning report, the sky above us was uneasy and so were the animals around us

"Zazu, get the guard and tell them to meet me there immediately" I ordered him and then turned to my son "go home, now"

As I crossed the border in to outlands following the direction of the mysterious roar Ehsan, Malka, Tojo and Chumvi joined me, the enormous termite mound had crumbled to the ground we walked around it

"No…" I breathed out a when I saw a golden specs emerging from under the rubble

"Kion, Kiara!" I screamed racing towards them

"Daddy!" "Dad!" they cried as I pulled them in a protective hold, Kiara was sobbing and Kion was shaking, I pulled back from the hug to see if they were injured "we're okay…" Kion whispered

"What happened?" I demand

"The rogues- they tried to take me and Kion saved me" Kiara bawled I pulled her closer to me and turn to my son

"What are you two doing here?" I ask

"We were exploring" he answers in a shaky voice

"I've told endless times that you are not allowed to go anywhere without an escort!" I shouted "How could you be so irresponsible?" Kion looked up at me with tear-filled eyes, I take in a deep breath and shake my head pulling him close "it's alright, son" I whisper patting his growing red mane with my paw and then I turn to Ehsan "can you take care of this? I need to take them home"

"Sure" he nods "Tojo, Malka patrol the borders, Chumvi and will check the perimeter"

I nudge my two frightened children and they quietly start walking back to the Pridelands.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

**Nala's point of view**

Everyone in the Pridelands heard that roar it was alarming but what really scared me was seeing my son running back home alone

"Kopa, what's going on?" I ask

"Dad told me to come home" he pants

"And where are your siblings?"

"They stayed home this morning" he replied

"I was just in the den and they weren't there" I explain and I begin to worry

"I knew they were lying!" Kopa says and he marches inside the den and looks around to confirm they weren't there

"Is everything okay sweetie?" my mom asked

"Mom, Sarabi Have you seen Kion and Kiara?"

Sarabi shakes her head "I thought they were with Simba…"

"No, dad and the guard went to check the outlands" Kopa explained

"I have to go find them" I say and exit the den followed by them

"Nala, you should wait for Simba to come back first" my mother says

"It's not safe to venture out alone, especially since we don't know what's going out there" my mother-in-law ads, they were right it's not safe to be out there right now and that's exactly why I want to go look for Kion and Kiara so badly, where is Zazu when I need him?

"There they are!" Kopa said looking over the edge of pride rock, I joined him and when we see Simba walking back home with Kiara and Kion by his sides, I let out a shaky breath I didn't knew I was holding

"Sit" Simba told them and they abided sitting in front of me and Simba

"Where were you guys? You scared us all!" Kopa demanded, Kion and Kiara remained silent and looked away

Don't tell me they had something to do with the outlands" I sigh closing my eyes

"They had everything to do with what happened there" Simba boomed causing Kion and Kiara's ears flatten Kopa only gave them a sympathetic look

"What happened?" I ask trying to keep my voice calm

"They lied so they could skip today's lessons and then decided to squeak into the outlands where they were nearly captured by two of Zambra's minions and crushed to death by a landslide" Simba explained

"But it wasn't a landslide daddy…" Kiara said barely above a whisper Simba heard her well and was not pleased at all "it was-"

"It was Kion's roar!" a voice said rather loudly startling us, Rafiki the old shaman always popping out of nowhere… but wait what did he just say?

"That was Kion's roar?" I ask in disbelief "my little cub roared so loud it could be heard through the whole kingdom?"

"Yes Nala, yes!" he laughs "the spirits have chosen him" I gasp, when Simba and I had the cubs Rafiki and Mufasa told us that inevitably the spirits would gift one of them with the roar of the elders and later would have to become leader of the lion guard, but no one was certain of who or when they would choose so that along with not wanting to pick favorites was why we decided to wait until they were older to pick an heir to be present it to the Pridelands.

"What?" Kion asks turning his head to the side

"The roar of the elders, when you use it the great lions of the Pridelands past roar with you" Kopa answers with wide eyes, someone has been studying history…

"What? You mean that's what happened to my roar?" Kion mused

"The Roar of the Elders is a great gift, Kion" Rafiki explained "and now you are ready! It is time you lead the lion guard-" Rafiki exclaimed with excitement

"Now wait a minute Rafiki" Simba stopped him

Simba, Simba. You heard the roar!" Rafiki argued

"He might have the roar but he's still a cub and my son" Simba said firmly "leading the lion guard is a big responsibility and from what I saw today he is too irresponsible and impulsive to handle it" Rafiki sighed crossing his arms nodding his head and Kion lowered his head sadly.

"But it wasn't his fault" Kiara spoke up she had tears streaming down her face "I told him to lie and it was my idea to sneak into the outlands. He saved me from those rogues daddy…"

"That's not the point Kiara" he scolded and I give him a small frown, I understand Simba's reaction but I think he should control his temper. His breathes calming himself down before continuing "The point is that you two know the rules and you still disobeyed them"

**Kiara's point of view**

"We will discuss your punishment later, now go wait inside the den" dad said firmly, Kion and I did as told and walked to the den and I don't know about him but I was so embarrassed walking in there with my head low after being scolded by dad, luckily it was empty and no one to there see us in our misery.

"Guys?" oh look at that I'm wrong again; here comes Kopa looking at us with a concerned look on his face "how are you?"

"Like a dump beetle that got crushed by a huge ball of poop" Kion deadpanned

"Same" I mumble "did daddy send you here to keep an eye on us?"

"No… he's talking to mom. I wanted to check on you guys" he sighed

"They're probably talking about our punishment" Kion said but then he looked at us concerned "what if they don't ever let me become leader of the lion guard?"

"They will Kion, this whole thing wasn't your fault" I say

"Yeah…" he gives me half a smile "thanks for not taking me down with you"

"I already did that yesterday" I chuckle waving my paw at him and they laugh "but seriously Kion, you saved my life it was the least I could do"

"I saved you from those rogues, but then I almost killed us both…" he mumbled "I didn't expect my roar to be so powerful"

"The roar of the elder will make you the fiercest animal in the Pride Lands" Kopa told him "it's an amazing power to have"

"Kopa" Kion chuckles "How do you know all these stuff?"

"Cause I actually attend and pay attention to our lessons?" he responded with a smirked

"Ugh but they're so boring" I complain and Kion nods agreeing

"But we need to know the history and traditions of the Pridelands" my teal eyed brother advised

"Whatever you say bro" was Kion's reply

"Ahem" Kion and I jumped a bit when we saw dad standing in the entrance with mom his side.

"Come Kopa, your father needs to talk to your siblings" she called and he followed her out of the den leaving us standing in front of dad, he didn't looked as mad as before but there was disappointment written all over his face

"From now on you are not allowed to leave pride rock without me or your mother accompanying, you so no visits to friends and no hunting practice till further notice" daddy said "also your morning lessons will be imparted by Zazu here in the den" lessons with Zazu? Oh kings and no hunting practice? I'm falling way behind my friends, their mothers take them practicing every day, I'm lucky if I get to go with mom once a week… apparently I can't always rid myself of troubles just because I'm daddy's little princess, in fact being the princess is what almost got me captured today well that and lying to my parents, disobeying the rules and sneaking out of the Pridelands. It was a very stupid thing to do and I've learned my lesson, I just hope time goes by fast so things can go back to normal.

_**-AN-**_

**_I can't believe this year is about to end! I hope 2016 is filled with happiness, love, health, positivity and many blessings for you all!_**


	21. Chapter 21

**-AN-**

**hey guys! sorry I haven't uploaded a new chapter since last year *ba da bum tss* some bad jokes to start the new year lol. **

**one more things guys ****chapters are getting longer cause otherwise this story will be 100 chapters long :/ **

**-****Ali**

**Chapter 21**

**2 months later**

**Kopa's point of view**

I had another long day ahead of me today lessons with dad in the morning the run to the other side of the kingdom to meet with mom and for a hunting lesson and then on the afternoon then after lunch our combat practice

"Well look who finally decided to join us" Kiara rolls her eyes as I run to catch up with her and Kion at the grasslands for a hunting lesson with mom something I'm not looking forward to.

"You're late koko" Kion smirked

"Oh so you can call him koko but we can't call you Ki?" my sister asks him and he rolls his eyes and then turned to me "where were you anyways?"

"Oh I know!" Kion smirked nudging me "he was someone whose name starts with a V"

"And ends with itani?" Kiara laughed nudging me as well

"I was not with her today!" say getting flustered

"But you were yesterday…" Kion pointed out

"And the day before that…" Kiara added

I swear if wasn't covered in fur you would see the reddest red painted on my face. I have been spending a lot of time with Vitani lately but I was hoping they didn't notice "And the-" Kion tried to go on but luckily mom came to my rescue

"Stop tormenting your brother" she said in a warning tone without even turning to look at us, she was obviously in huntress mode right now

"Thank you mom but if they must know I was with dad" I explained and they rolled their eyes "and I'm not even going to ask why you two didn't assist today"

"Hey! Uncle Ehsan took me on patrol with the guard" Kion said retorted, understandable excuse I mean he will become the leader one day.

"I just didn't feel like going" Kiara answered with a smug look on her face, oh Kiki even after being grounded for 2 months she learned nothing. I think she was actually happy with the punishment cause she didn't had to go on the morning lessons and dad could tell so he doesn't forces them to come anymore its usually just me and him. I wanted to say something to her but I figured it was no use she doesn't even listens to dad so we just kept following mom trough the tall grasses until we reached convenient location with a clear enough view but still hidden from the herds and she decided to test our knowledge usually she would just bring us along and tell us the basic rules and end the lesson with a demonstration but this time was going to be different.

"What's the first thing we do?" she asked in a low voice

"We study the heard for weak spots?" Kiara answered and mom nodded, my sisters scarlet eyes scanned quickly through the lands, sometimes puts too much pressure on herself by comparing her hunting skills to mom's and right now my sister is trying to show her that she knows what she's doing I know she's been trying to improve her hunting skills so she can be ready to go on her first solo hunt before she turns two like mom did and I think she will be. She spotted something and leaned closer to mom whispering "there! Up ahead" and pointing at a lonely zebra

"Perfect, a straggler and he's injured" The poor animal was limping and his heard kept moving as if they didn't care, oh kings I usually love seeing my mother smile but this time I have a bad feeling about it "well, let's go" mom said with a smile and began moving towards the zebra.

"We're going too?" I ask and she nods in response, Kion and Kiara grin in excitement and follow mom's lead while my face goes blank

"Make use of every bit of cover, stay hidden for as long as possible and use surprise" she explained turning to us and her eyes fell on mine I sighed and furrowed my brows "don't give me that look"

"Mamma, I'm not interested in hunting…" I began

"Kopa, you have a very privileged life here in the Pridelands specially being a prince, but knowing how to hunt is a basic skill that you as a lion should have because knowing how to hunt can be the difference between living and dying" she says firmly but without losing her temper, I nodded my head slowly understanding her point but inside my stomach was already churning at the thought of killing a living being "come on now" she said and we all moved into attack positions. I kept eyeing mom nervously waiting for her to pounce, the zebra inched closer to her and when it was close enough she pounced clamping the herbivore's nose and mouth shut with her jaws while my siblings jump on its rump and wrestle him down and I'm still frozen a few meters away from them.

"Kopa go for the throat!" Kiara yelled as help on to the zebra preventing it from kicking

"Now, Kopa!" Kion yelled as he stood on its back weighting it down "What are you waiting for? Take him out!"

"I can't" I say shaking my head, mom clenches her jaw hard on the zebra within seconds it all ends I know the zebra is dead when it stops struggling.

"What's wrong with you?" Kion frowned jumping off the now dead zebra

"What in the Pridelands Kopa!" Kiara snapped at me "why didn't you help us?"

"I'm sorry, but it just didn't feel right. I didn't feel like myself" I say looking down at the ground

"You see this?" Kion said getting in my face with his teeth showing "this are made to kill"

"And so are these" Kiara sneered unsheathing her claws and slashing the zebra's throat, I winced and looked away horrified at the scene. "There, that's how it's done" she says and storms away with Kion.

"Mamma I-" I choke out, she sighs closing her eyes "dad, grandpa Mufasa and Rafiki always taught me that all life is sacred from the crawling ant to the leaping antelope"

"Yes. All life is sacred" she replies "they have taught you well but remember Kopa you might be a gentle spirited prince but you're still a lion, and this my son is what lions do" she said turning her head towards the carcass.

**Kion's point of view**

You know I can understand that Kopa was a bit frightened by our first hunt I was too but I got over it because I've learned to not disobey my parents yeah two moths grounded does things to you, anyways as I was saying Kopa disobeyed mom today and he disobeys her every day when he refuses to attack during training combat and all I'm saying is that he never gets in trouble for it but oh if it was me who did it, dad would've grounded me for another two months but since it was Kopa the wonder prince he only had a heart to hear talk to him and gave him permission to skip hunting lessons until he felt ready to give it a try again and while I was only mad by the favoritism shown to my brother Kiara was also mad because he almost ruined the hunt.

"We had that zebra right there and he refused to deliver the final blow" Kiara fumed as she passed back and forth "Can you believe him?" she asked our group of friends while we were sitting under pride rocks peak.

"Ugh fluffy, that lily liver-" Vitani rolled her purple eyes

"That lily liver is your boyfriend" I smirked

"He's not my boyfriend!" she thundered raising her par to strike me but before she could Kiara spoke

"Maybe he should be" she said "having Vitani as a girlfriend would toughen him up"

Vitani tried to hide the smile on her face, oh kings can she be more obvious? "We already have Vitani on board for that but we should see if Kopa accepts" I say and everyone laughs as Vitani smacks my arm

"There's nothing wrong with Kopa is he's very kind and sweet…" Tiifu spoke out, we all turned to look at the usually quiet cub "and no one should try to change him" I mean she's right I'm sure Kiara was kidding; I know I wouldn't want my brother to change I was about to tell her that but Vitani beat me to speak

"Nobody asked for your opinion Tiifu" she narrowed her eyes at her younger sister; Tiifu lowered her green to her paws and everyone looked at each other.

"I think she's right" I shrugged hoping to fade the awkwardness by being silly "If we didn't have cowards, we couldn't tell who the brave ones are" I said puffing my chest and they all laughed

"If I'm you all think I'm the coward then why are you afraid to say it to my face?" a voice said behind me and I cringed, I slowly turned my head to see Kopa's teal eyes glaring at me

"We would but you would run and tell dad" I shot back

"Kion, don't pick on Kopa You know he's always been sensitive" Kiara says making a pouting face at Kopa

"I'm not sensitive!" He snapped defensively, Kiara and I laughed as he bounded off furious I turned my gaze to see my mother watching us from above with a serious look on her face.

"Oh kings…" I grumble. Kiara follows my gaze, her ears drop when she sees her and we sigh bracing ourselves for another 'you are triplets you must get along' speech.


	22. Chapter 22

**-AN-**

**So I was watching a documentary called "Botswana Lion Brotherhood" and in it the mothers started taking their cubs on the hunts when they were 10 months old and when they were 18 months old they were already helping their mother and the pride take down a buffalo and I said wow those are some bad ass cubs but my cubs can top them! lol they are 14 months now and they took down a zebra with miss Nala aka da best huntress in da whole wide world so yeah that's the 'logic' behind Kiara and Kion's hunting skills and as for Kopa he's just a softie like I am, go ahead call us whimps we don't care :'( lol enough of my midnight nonsense and on with the chapter.**

**-ali.**

**Chapter 22**

**Kopa's point of view**

I climbed all the way to pride rock's summit; I sat there taking in the fresh air of the afternoon and appreciating the emerald green pastures, the turquoise shimmering waters and watching as the sun started to set. Everyone was in the den was finishing their meals right now but I needed to be away from my siblings to think.

"Aren't you hungry?" Vitani's voice asked coming from behind

"I've got a lot on my mind; I needed a moment to myself" I reply and she walks over to my side "Things have been different with Kion and Kiara, and I feel like-"  
>"I just asked if you were hungry, I didn't ask for your whole life story" she said yawning, I looked away a little irritated and she chuckled "I'm kidding"<br>"well, I'm serious" I snapped

"You're always serious" she rolled her violet eyes "that's why your siblings hate you" I give her a worried look and she sighs "kidding again!"

"Vitani…" I groan, I hope she sees I need the nice friendly Vitani right now…

"Okay, fine. What's troubling you?" She sits to face me  
>"what you just said my siblings hate me" I replied with a sigh "and I don't know what to do"<p>

"Well, stop worrying" she said bluntly

"Oh thank you! That solves everything" I say rolling my eyes, talking to this girl is even worse than talking to my siblings.

"They don't hate you Kopa, all siblings tease each other" she laughs, and like my siblings she too enjoys seeing me aggravated. I give her an offended look and she continues "You've seen how I treat Tiifu but it's not because I hate her, I just want her to have a thicker skin so no one can hurt her"

"But you're hurting her yourself…" I mumble

"It's called tough love" she said punching my arm

"It's weird" I say rubbing the pain away

"I know it is" she smirks "but that's how some of us show affection Remember when you thought I hated you?"

"Yeah… I still think you do sometimes" I admit

"Well, I don't" she said nuzzling me, I was taken aback for a second I'm still trying to get used to her being friendly to me "They love you Kopa" she said looking up at me with a shy smile "And so do I"

WHAT!? What in the Pridelands!? I was still trying to get over the shock and process what she said when she leaned in and kissed me, KISSED ME! Oh kings what is going on? I did not see this coming I just came here to think, I didn't even know she like me- oh wait she did said but I thought she meant as a friend but the way her lips are pressed on mine right now I can tell that's not what she meant, What do I do? I'm not Kion; I didn't inherited dad's smooth talking skills, I'm just an awkward and confused prince. Do I love him? Do I even like her? When she pulled away and looked at me with eyes full of expectation I swear I almost said 'thank you' but even I know that would've been a catastrophic answer so instead I uttered "I love you too"

**Simba's point of view**

"That zebra never saw the attack coming!" after we ate the very zebra he was talking about, Kion he pounced on me while telling me the whole story

"You defiantly have your mother's hunting skills" I laughed as I plopped to the ground with my son landing on my back

"I totally do" he said proudly and Kiara cleared her throat "oh and so does Kiara" he added "but I brought it down"

"YOU brought down the zebra?" Kiara raised an eyebrow at him

"Okay, okay. Mom brought down the zebra" he corrected rolling his eyes at her, using me to illustrate their hunt "but I helped her-"

"And I held its legs so it wouldn't kick mom or Kion" Kiara interrupted holding on to my legs with a mischievous grin

"And I used all my strength to hold it down" Kion tried to one up holding his head up proudly and putting his paw on his chest

"Wow I would've loved to be there to see you guys in action" I said laughing at the goofy cubs

"You should come with us tomorrow daddy" my daughter suggested with a smile

"Yeah!" her brother chimed in

"I would love to" I replied and huge grins came to their faces but then I remembered something and my smile fell "oh kings" I muttered

"You can't make it tomorrow, can you?" Kion asked with obvious disappointment

"I promised Kopa I would take him to the Furaha lands tomorrow" I said and they looked away "don't you guys wanna come?" I offer and they glance at each other and shake their head in negation "come on! Are you too busy for your dad now?"

"Yeah, we kinda are daddy…" Kiara said in an unusually serious tone

"Uncle Ehsan said he would teach me about leading the guard" Kion said

"And Grandma Sarabi and Sarafina are gonna help me practice for my solo hunt" my daughter added. Busy little cubs they are although to be fair I only see them as cubs they are grew up fast, when they were grounded Nala started taking them on the hunts with her and Kiara really took interest on it as for Kion he seems very interested on learning everything he can about the guard and I'm glad they found their callings even if it means spending less time with them. I stayed in the den talking to the two little trouble makers soon Nala joined us and when I asked where Kopa was she told me how Kion and Kiara were teaming up to torment him again.

"Why? Just tell me why you two insist on torturing him?" I sigh

"We don't have anything against him" Kion mumbled

"We tease each other too" Kiara chimed in "but Kopa always takes it personally, and he never fights back to defend himself"

"Then maybe you should stop teasing him" Nala suggested raising one of her perfect brows

"Yeah… we'll take that into consideration" Kion said and Nala narrowed her eyes at him and he immediately retracted lying on his mother's paws and smiling "I mean… yes mamma" Nala groomed Kion's mane and then mine, the sun was setting and I was starting to worry cause Kopa wasn't here yet but I know he likes time for himself when he's upset and he wouldn't run off or do anything dangerous so I just waited impatiently until he appeared on the entrance of the den he laid down in the ground instead of his usual spot with his siblings between me and Nala.

"Son, is everything okay?" I ask, he was already resting his head in his paws and had his eyes closed

"Yeah…" he answered turning to look at me with an obviously fake smile

"Why are you sleeping there?" Kiara asked turning her head to the side

"I just am" he shrugged "you're the one that always complains about space"

"Yeah, but Kion is the fat one not you" she answered and Kion glared at her

"It's not fat, its muscle" he corrects "but she's right Kopa, you're so small and thin you don't take up much space" he smirk looking up and down at his taller but slimmer brother

"Neither does your brain, and yet you have an enormous head" he responded and Kiara started laughing at Kion's surprised face, that was a good comeback and if I wasn't their father, the king and a grown-up I would be laughing too but I bit my smile and Nala rolled her eyes at me

"Whatever. Enjoy the ground koko" Kion replied shrugging it off and curling up to sleep

"Enjoy Kiara's snores, Ki" Kopa said with a smug look on his face before getting back to his sleeping position. Kion and Kiara exchanged surprised glances and this time I laughed seems like Kopa is trough being the victim.


	23. Chapter 23

_**-AN- **_

_**guess who's back? back again? **_

_**no, not shady. **_

_**its me :D**_

_**-Ali**_

**Chapter 23**

**1 year later**

**Kiara's point of view**

I've been preparing for this day for almost a year now, my first solo hunt and I couldn't sleep everyone around me is asleep and mind is racing for starters I'm I come from a long line of amazing Huntresses and having three of them to train me and still I'm the last one of my age group to go and it's quite embarrassing I have to admit but I could've been ready before if dad wasn't so overprotective and would actually let me go practice hunting on my own like others did oh well dwelling on it won't change anything my focus needs to be on my performance today I better bring it today and impress everyone and most importantly show my dad that there's no reason for him to be so protective that I can actually be out there on my own, I don't see how it could go wrong unless I get injured out there or I get lost or If I go blank and suddenly forget everything I've learned oh that would be so humiliating okay, okay Kiara you need to calm yourself… I could really use some fresh air right now but it would be impossible to maneuver through my many sleeping pride members I look at mom and dad and I can't help but to smile they are so cute together mom is using him as a pillow and he has a protective arm wrapped around her, however my smile fades when Kion starts kicking me in his sleep so I shoved him and guess what he was still asleep and kicking away I can't blame Kopa for not wanting to sleep on the platform anymore but I think his decision had more to do with being closer to Vitani… by the way I still can't believe she's Kopa's girlfriend even if they've been together for almost a year they seem happy I guess when Vitani isn't yelling at him over the smallest thing… that girl really has some attitude issues but apparently my brother likes her enough to put up with them, anyways as this thoughts ran through my mind the sun began rising and I could feel anticipation and nervousness slowing building up inside of me as I walked out of the den but my pride's encouraging words give me the boost I need.

"Here she is!"

"Wow, her first hunt!"

"Good luck, Kiara!"

"You can do it!"

"Simba and Nala must be so proud"

"You'll do just fine" moms tells me with a reassuring nuzzle

"She'll be great" Kopa smiled placing his paw on my shoulder "it's your day, Kiara"

"Yeah, Good luck, sis!" Kion nudged me "bring back something tasty for us"

"I will thank you guys" I smile hugging my brothers, they had gotten so big I could barely wrap my arms around them

"Okay, okay you can let go now" my red manned brother rolls his eyes playfully

"Just enjoy the moment Kion, she's never this nice to us" Kopa chuckles and I let go of them to slap his arm "see? That didn't last long" we all share a laugh but then I glance at dad and he looks quite worried and sad, but he sighs gently and forces a smile.

"Daddy... you have to promise to let me do this on my own, Promise?" he glances at mom, who raises her eyebrows at him

"All right... I promise" He nods slowly; I rub my head against him and take one last look around before I run off into the fields.

**Kion's point of view**

As my sister disappears in the grasslands the crowd starts to dissipate. After mom goes into the den Dad moves surreptitiously over to me and my brother and says "I want you to keep a close watch on Kiara, make sure she doesn't get hurt"

"You want me to follow her?" I ask and grin "cool an incognito mission"

"Both of you actually" he answers and Kopa's closes his eyes conceal an eye roll

"Dad… you promised you would let her do this on her own" Kopa reminds him and he sighs "And you also promised us a day off"

"Boys, I'm counting on you. Danger could be lurking behind every rock" dad in his commanding kingly voice

"Yes sir" I say saluting him, there's no point in arguing so we just bounded off only to be stopped by a voice that I've recently grown to despite

"Kopa" Vitani called "would you mind telling me where you are going?"

"I um… well- Kion and I have to go do something-" he turned to her with a nervous smile while I rolled my eyes

"You said you would spend the whole day with me today" she snapped

"I know but my dad says it's important and-" he tried to defend himself

"Fine, go do that thing since it's obviously much more important than spending time with your girlfriend!" she barked getting in his face and then stormed away, can she be more overly dramatic? Kopa tried to go after her but; I grabbed his tail to stop him.

"You can deal with her later" I say "let's just go before we lose Kiara's trail"

He reluctantly agrees and we go on our mission, this is going to be fun.

"This is ridiculous" Kopa grumbled as we walked through the tall grasses trying to keep up with our sister's trail

"I know, Vitani sure knows how to make a scene" I say

"I mean this, why did I had to come on this silly mission" he rolls his eyes signaling at us

"There is nothing silly about this mission; we're protecting the life of a member of the royal family" I say puffing my chest

"We're members of the royal family too" he deadpanned

"I'm first and foremost a lion guard" I smile smug, I became an official member of the lion guards 6 months ago and I love it, I can definably see myself becoming the leader one day and assembling my own guard to defend the Pridelands.

"Whatever you say Kion-"

"Commander Kion" I correct

"look commander,maybe you should take over the mission and I should go talk to Vitani, she's really mad at me" Kopa said frowning

"When is she not?" I smirk and he narrows his teal eyes at me "that's it, that's the look she's constantly giving you!" I laugh and he looks away "if you're lucky this time she will be mad enough to break up with you and you'll get your freedom back!"

"Let's just go find Kiara!" he huffs walking ahead of me alerting a herd of antelope and causing them to run off. As you can see evade and avoid are Kopa's response to any kind of conflict, so I decided to focus on the mission to keep an eye on our sister… that is if we could actually find her.

**Kiara's point of view**

I was trying to be quiet careful not to step on branches and send the herd of antelope running but something else alerted them, who in the Pridelands could it be? I climbed a tree and two specks of golden fur and red and brown mane, Kion and Kopa… I can't believe father sent them after he promised to let me do this on my own- he lied! I should have known he'd never give me a real chance but I'll show them I'll do this on my own, away from the Pridelands, I ran towards the northern border towards the Furaha lands I knew Kopa and Kion would never find me there and I could finally hunt alone. Getting there took a little longer than I expected a couple hours and I've never been here before to be honest because this place holds a lot of bad memories for my family but it's still part of our territory so I'm allowed to hunt here, I knew I had arrived to the Furaha territory when I saw the huge lake everyone dad told us about so after taking a drink I began my hunt again I was feeling great you know that thrill you get when you're doing something new by yourself and you're scared and exited at the same time? That's how I was feeling as I walked through the unfamiliar territory when I finally got close enough to a herd I pounced on a weak looking wildebeest thinking it would be the perfect target but this animal refused to go down, I knew that I if let go, it would attack me and injure me with its horns so I just held onto it with all my strength and but then out of nowhere it went down and I was able to finish him. I did it I actually did it! I killed a wildebeest on my own and oh kings- a male lion about my age was standing there staring at me with his emerald green eyes that for some reason seem familiar.

"What are you doing here?" I demand trying to regain my composure and growling lowly

"Helping you out sweet thing" the brown manned lion answered with a wink

"Who do you think you are?" I ask offended

"I think I'm the one who just saved your life!" he replied

"Look! I had everything under control!" I tell him getting annoyed

"Not from where I'm standing" he says smugly

"Then move downwind" I snapped "you shouldn't even be here outsider! This is Pridelands territory"

"Whoa someone's a little bratty" he scoffs "in my pride we say thank you when someone helps us, anyways I won't bother you I was just exploring"

"Whatever, just leave me alone outsider" I roll my eyes checking my pray and shrugs retreating

"My name's Kovu by the way" he calls and something clicks in my head

"Wait a minute!" I say walking towards "you! You're that cub, king Zambra's son"

"Glad to hear you still remember me" he smirks "Because I could never forget about you"

"Oh yeah... I-um… I remember you" I laugh nervously and shift my paws and he smiles at me and I start having an odd feeling in my stomach kind of like a flutter

"So...are going to eat your friend there or what?" he asks and I look down at the wildebeest

"Oh- I was supposed to take it home" I say "it's my first solo hunt"

"You pridelanders are full of ceremonies and traditions aren't you?" he chuckles "this is a great catch princess but how are you going to drag that all the way back to the Pridelands?"

"I… have no idea" I admit, dammit I didn't think this through

"Here" he said walking towards the kill with a smile "I'll help you drag that thing"

"Thanks" I smile looking up at him and getting that strange fluttering feeling in my stomach again… interesting.


	24. Chapter 24

**-AN-**

_**hello, it's me... (did you read that with Adele's voice or was it just me? lol) **_

_**just to clarify Kion, Kiara and Kopa are 2 years and 2 months old so they're teenagers I imagine them being like 16-17 year old in human age and Kovu is around the same age.**_

**_-ali_**

**Chapter 24**

**Kopa's point of view**

"I know she's here somewhere!" Kion insisted after hours of walking around the Pridelands not being able to find Kiara I was getting worried hunts don't usually take this long I hope nothing happened to her.

"Kion it's getting late and we can't find her, we should head back to pride rock and ask for help" I tell him

"This is our mission, we're not going back until we find her" my stubborn brother said

"We're going back for help!" I say firmly "This is too dangerous, the lion guard should be looking for her"

"I can handle this" he replied

"I said we're going back Kion!" I challenge

"As the leader of the lion guard, you will have to obey the king's orders" I say calmly

"But guess what? You're not the king yet, you can't tell me what to do!" he snapped "you're not dad"

"But I'm the future king and the oldest" I remind him

"Yeah, yeah I know all about it Kopa you remind me of that constantly" he glares "I'm tired of you and dad always doubting me and bossing me around, I'm the future leader of the lion guard and the fiercest animal in the Pridelands!"

"This isn't about you Kion! This is about our sister she could be in real danger!" I raise my voice talking louder than I ever had "we're going back and that's final"

After a short walk and getting multiple silent glares from Kion we finally got home and found dad anxiously passing back and forth with mom, Zazu, uncle Ehsan and my grandmothers sitting standing by "where is she?" He demanded

"We couldn't find her" I tell dad and he jerks his head away from us

"Zazu!" he calls "ensemble a bird search party to find her"

"Yes sir!" the blue birds flies off immediately , uncle Ehsan roars to call the lion guard and soon we all bound off to search for her.

**Kiara's point of view**

"So you said this is Pridelands territory?" Kovu asked as we walked back to the Pridelands "how?"  
>"Yeah this became part of the Pridelands a few years ago; it's a very long and confusing story actually" I answer<br>"Well, I have time to hear it right now" he chuckled  
>"These lands belonged to my maternal grandfather Moyo but my grandfather Mufasa's brother Scar took over the lands after he died" I began<br>"How did Moyo died?" he asked curious  
>"Oh he and Scar had a plan to kill Mufasa take over the Pridelands but it backfired when Scar betrayed him and killed him" I reply and he just stares at me in silences so I continue "when Scar took over Furaha he captured my mother and the other lionesses so my father defeated Scar to rescued them then they went back to the Pridelands mom and dad got married and became king and queen and since my mom's brother doesn't want to be king the Furaha lands became part of my father's kingdom and the two prides became one"<br>"Whoa" he blinked "that's some story!"  
>"I know" I giggle<br>"So you come from two lines of royalty, not bad princess Kiara" he smirks and I roll my eyes

"Oh don't start with the titles, prince Kovu!" I say with a laugh

"Oh I'm not a prince" he laughs  
>"Uh… your father is a king, so yeah that makes you a prince" I say smugly<br>"My father was a king but he passed away… so that actually makes a king" he retorts and my smile fades  
>"I had no idea… I'm sorry" I say feeling bad for him<br>"It's cool" he shrugged "I guess it's my turn to tell you a story, uh?" I nod my head slowly and he begins "a few months ago he got sick and passed away and I had to become king much earlier than expected and that wouldn't be that bad but my father was never levelheaded enough to be king he was actually unstable and had a horrible temper and destroyed our pride's reputation … so yeah he ruined everything and I've been picking up the pieces, cleaning up his mess you know, trying to be a better king than he was"  
>"I'm sure you will be" I smile at him and smiles back, the long walk was a very pleasant one with his company he was very serious and mature but not to the point where he became boring to be around and even if he was looking at him sure wasn't boring. I've never seen greener than his, his muscles are clearly defined through his fur, his dark brown mane is still short much like my brothers manes and like them he is considerably bigger than me overall he's a very good looking lion "um… Kiara?"<p>

"Uh? What?" I snap out of my thoughts

"I think we're almost there..." he answers "were you staring at me?"

"What? No! I was starting at the um...sky! Yeah look at the sky it's getting late" I laughed nervously pointing at the sky behind him "and you're right we're almost there"

"Uh huh..." he says raising an eyebrow at me "well then I guess this is where we say goodbye" what? No! I don't wanna say goodbye…I gotta think of something quick

"You should come over to pride rock, maybe rest and have something to eat" I say "this is how we say thank you in my pride"

"That sounds nice way to say thank you, but my father kinda messed up our pride's relationship so I don't think I would be welcomed there" he tells me

"You said you were trying to fix your father's mistakes, didn't you? And meeting my father could be the first step to fixing this one" I try to convince him with my reasoning, he sighs and nods his head in agreement and we March right into the Pridelands

"I'm starting to second thoughts about this" Kovu says, I could see him getting more and more nervous as we continued walking "It feels wrong to just march into the Pridelands that never ends well for outsiders"

"Oh come on Kovu you're with me, what's the worst thing that could happen?" as I say this, the lion guard jumps out of the bushes surrounding us and growling fiercely at Kovu

"Step away from the princess right now!" my uncle Ehsan commands in a menacing voice

"The worst thing that could happen is I get killed today" Kovu whispered nervously and my uncle growls loudly

"Step away from her outsider!"

"You won't get killed" I roll my eyes "uncle Ehsan its fine, he's with me he helped me-"

"ROAR!" great just what we needed to make all this more traumatizing for Kovu, my dad and Kion jumping in and roaring in his face the poor guy almost had a heart attack.

**Nala's point of view **

When I got to the scene I was relieved to see Kiara was okay despite the commotion surrounding her, but the young lion standing next to her sure wasn't, I wouldn't be either if I had eight male lions surrounding me and looking like they were about to tear me to pieces, I pushed past the wall of lions to get to my daughter "Kiara you're alright!" I said nuzzling her

"Father Stop!" she yelled "I'm fine! Kovu was just-"

"Kovu?" Simba roars aggressively getting in his face

"Simba" I say surprised at his ferocity and he glares at me in response

"He was just helping me!" Kiara steps in between Kovu and Simba

"You helped her? Why?" Simba inquired the young lion

"I humbly ask to meet with you" he bowed his head

"The answer is no! Now leave my lands immediately" Simba snapped

"King Simba, I would like to apologize on behalf of my father" Kovu insists

"And why doesn't he comes personally instead of sending you?" he snarled

"Because he's dead" the young lion lowered his head "I'm the king and I would like to right my father's wrongs" Simba snarls and paces around.

"Simba… surely you can grant him an audience" I say giving him a hard look

"Mm... Yes, sire. Royal protocol says you must meet with your neighboring monarchs, though in this case you might want to make an exception." Zazu tells my mate

He studies the young king in silence for a moment then comes to a decision "We'll meet at dawn. It's been a long day so for now I reserve judgment" he says turning away from the scene with the guard and Zazu following him "We'll see who you really are"

Kovu smiles and looks sidelong at Kiara, who smiles back at him "well, now that you've met my father… and the lion guard" Kiara says and she turns to me "let me introduce you to my mother Nala"

"It's an honor to meet you queen Nala" he bows, I nod my head politely in response and Kion scoffs loudly

"And you remember my brothers" Kiara rolls her eyes "Kion and Kopa" the two go to stand on each side of their sister

"Yeah… nice to see you again" he nods nervously; my sons only narrow their eyes at the dark furred lion and Kiara looks at me in desperation

"Why don't we head back to Pride Rock and have something to eat" I suggest.

Later that night everyone was in the den preparing to sleep and Simba was nowhere to be seen but I knew exactly where to find him as I suspected he was anxiously passing back and forth on top of pride rock, I still find it amusing to see how stressed and worried my king can get, the former careless and reckless prince is long gone "love?" I say and he pauses for a second to look at me and then resume his passing "if you keep passing like that, you're going to fall of pride rock" I tease and he stops and sighs

"This is very suspicious Nala, he's planning something I know it" he say and I shake my head at him

"Perhaps he has good intentions and he's just trying to do the right thing" I say

"Nala honey, he's Zambra's son" he remarked "the deranged lunatic that tried to kidnap our daughter multiple times and caused my father's death"

"Simba, my father would beat me and mistreated my mother constantly, he took away my birthright and intended to marry me off in exchange for some land, forced a young lioness to give birth his cub when my mother refused to only to later take him away from her biological mother, not to mention that he tried also tried to kill your father" I snapped giving him a stern look "he was pure evil. Does that mean my brother and I are bad too, because our father was?" Simba sighed deeply and shook his head no "you have to judge him for what he is, get to know him see what he's really like" He looks up at me at me and a small smile came to his face

"Why are you so smart?" he chuckles

"One of us has to be the brains in this outfit" I shrug arrogantly and he laughs

"That would make me the beauty" he says shaking his mane being a goof

"That would make you the brawn" I laugh gives me an appalled look and I continue rolling my eyes "we can both be the beauty"

"Fine with me" he chuckled and gently kissed my forehead as we held each other close under the moonlight.


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

**Kion's point of view**

I didn't really sleep last night cause I felt it was my duty to keep an eye on Kovu, I'm gonna be honest I don't trust the outsider and I definitely don't want him near my sister, but anyways dad and Kovu were supposed to meet inside the den, so Kiara and I got up from our spots to leave but Kopa remained seated with his typical entitled attitude of course dad would let allow his precious heir to stay, I simply roll my eyes and walk out with us in silence and yes I'm still mad at him and on top of that the lack of sleep is making me incredibly grumpy but whatever.

"I hope the meeting goes well" Kiara said as we walked I raise an eyebrow at her as she says this and continues with a nervous laugh "you know so there can be peace between our prides"

"Since when do you care about diplomatic affairs" I snort, I can see right through you sis

"I've always cared" she shrugged

"Yeah right, all you care about is seeing your boyfriend again" I smirk

"He's not my boyfriend!" she snaps

"You're right he's not and he never will because dad would never allow it" I laugh

"What?" Kiara scoffs "if I wanted to date Kovu, and I'm not saying I do- but if I did dad would totally let me"

"No, he wouldn't" I argue

"Yes he would" she argued back

"No, he wouldn't"

"Kovu is a great guy, he's smart, brave, responsible, a complete gentlemen and-" she ranted

"You've known him for less than 24 hours you can't possibly know that!" I say, kings above this girl really needs to get it together, she glared at me with her fiery red eyes

"Whatever, you're just jealous of him" she snapped "and I feel sorry for you"wow talk about delusional

Then I saw something that truly made my day, Kopa walking out of the den looking pretty pissed oh poor thing you're about to feel even worse

"Looks like someone got kicked out of the meeting!" I laughed loudly, he glared at me and continued walking past us

"What's with the Grump?" Kiara asked when he compleatly ignored us

"He's just mad because Vitani broke up with him, we had a fight and now dad kicked him out of the meeting" I replied

"Vitani broke up him?" she asked surprised

"Well, she didn't break up with him, she's just mad" I explained

"When is she not?" Kiara scoffed, that's just what I said yesterday at least there's one thing Kiara and I share, our growing hate for Vitani "what happened this time?" she asked

"He promised we would spend the day together yesterday but then we had to- um…go do something" I tried fixing my little slip up to no use

"You had to go spying on me during my hunt" Kiara snapped "yeah I saw you guys, you suck at hiding"

"And you suck at doing what dad tell you" I retorted "that's why he sent us, he knew you would so something stupid and you didn't disappoint" she simply rolled her eyes "bringing that outsider is on your top ten dumb moments"

"He's not just any outsider, he's a king" she sneered

"Still not the brightest move Kiara" I added

"Whatever" she brushed off my comment "what did you two argued about this time?"

"Same as always" I shrug "he's always trying to boss me around"

"If you two keep having the same argument by the time he becomes king and you become leader of the guard the Pridelands are doomed" she sighs "unless one of you gives in" Kopa might be the future king but I'm a better leader and will not allow him to boss me around.

"It will not be me" I say determined

**Simba's point of view**

The meeting with Kovu was over and it went well I can see the relationship between our prides improving later on but right it was time for him to leave but not without saying goodbye to my daughter first and I kept a watchful eye on their interaction, this kid better not push it I might have agreed to meet with him but that doesn't mean I want him getting too close to Kiara.

"It was great seeing you again" Kovu told my daughter with a smile

"You're leaving already?" she asked

"Yes, but I'll come back soon" the green eyed lion tells her, we still had some things to go over but they will be done soon hopefully "but right now my pride must be worried specially my m-"

"Mate?" I ask raisin an eyebrow at him

"No! No, I don't have one of those" he laughs nervously "I was going to say my mother, I swear"

"Right…" I say and Kiara gives me a 'dad you're embarrassing me' look

"Kiara, I would like to thank you for your help" he spoke and she smiled at him

"I should be the one thanking you" she answered looking up at him he smiled and it was like their eyes were glued to each other's, I am not having this, time to step in

"Okay that's enough thanking for today" I say rather loudly and scaring the two "good bye Kovu!"

"Uh- um goodbye king Simba!" He turns and bows his head at me "bye Kiara" he glances at her one last time before disappearing into the distance

"You scared him!" my daughter exclaimed

"I don't like the way you two look at each other" I say and she rolled her eyes at me

"It's just looking daddy" she says getting up, yeah just looking when I was a teen looking always led to something else "I gotta go before I miss the hunt"

"Princess" I say and she stops to look at me "No more hunts outside the borders for you. Not ever, understood?"

"As long as you don't send someone to spy on me…" she mutters

"Don't push it Kiara, I could change it to 'no hunts for you, at all' " I say calmly but sternly

She closed her eyes sighed "yes father"

"Now, go before they leave without you" I nuzzled her before going in oposite directions.

My favorite time of the day is the afternoon right before the sun sets when I get to go home and spend time with my family but sometimes when I get home things are not as peaceful as I expect them to be and I've noticed a patron lately when Kiara, Kion and Kopa are together fights, bickering and arguments erupt and seems like that's what I'm going to find today, I could hear Nala asking with an urgent voice "what happened?!" I followed her voice and saw Kion ono the floor rubbing his head, Kiara and Kopa with their ears pinned down.

Nala sighed exasperated when no one answered so I stepped in and asked again "what happened?" The cubs turned to me with wide eyes and then studied each other's faces

"Kion and Kopa were fighting again!" Kiara blurted out

"Kion started it!" Kopa accused

"I did not!" Kion contradicted getting up from the ground

"You started the argument and then attacked me!" Kopa said

"I'm the one that's hurt here!" Kion yelled signaling to his head

"You did that to yourself!" Kiara chimed in "he was going to use the roar on us"

"What? Kion-" I asked shocked

"That's not true Kiara is lying, she always lies to you guys" Kion argued

"I'm not a liar!" Kiara snapped

"Yes you are" Kopa rolled his eyes "like today you crossed the border again to go look for Kovu because she likes him"

"What?! Kiara-" I boomed

"Kopa has a girlfriend!" she announced "And he told us to lie if you guys ever asked us about it"

"No I didn't!" Kopa yelled

"Yes you did" Kion blabbed

"And Kion has two girlfriends!" Kopa claimed "He can't decide whether he likes Rani or Sita"

"That's not true!" Kion snorts

"It is I saw him with both of them" Kiara said and the accusations continued flying but I wasn't even listening anymore whatever happened I could tell the three of them were to blame and now they were just trying to sink each other down sibling rivalry to the max, at times like this I'm grateful to be an only child

"That's enough!" Nala scolded and the yelling stopped "it's like three months old all over again, talking over each other, yelling, fighting-"

"Mamma…" Kion interrupted looking at the paw he had been holding his head with "my head is bleeding" he said showing his bloodstained paw

Nala gasped and went to get Rafiki. I sat watching the three glaring at each other, I swear it's like the argument between them continued through some kind of triplet telepathy. When Kion started waving his bloody paw in his siblings face, they swat it away and another physical fight was about to begin "Stop it" I boomed "The three of you ask to be treated as adults but when you act like this! I've had enough of your cub like behavior" I say with a stern tone, when they were younger we thought that the fighting would eventually stop but it seems to be getting worse the older they get, sibling rivalry never ended well in my family's history I will not have my children damage their relationship to that point.

Nala was back with Rafiki rather quickly to examine and heal Kion; it was nothing serious just a superficial wound, after that the scurried away from the scene while we talked to Rafiki and went to the den where the three of them pretended to be three well behaved angels. Nala and I stayed outside discussing what happened today

"How many weeks is it going to be now?" she asked

"Grounding them it's pointless" I sigh

"Now you know how your father felt" she said flatly

Something went off in my head when she said this it gave me a brilliant idea, something that would put those three in the right path and after discussing it with Nala, we decided to inform Kiara, Kion and Kopa

"You're banishing us!?" they exclaimed shocked.

**_-AN-_**

**_more to come soon! _**

**_-ali_**


	26. Chapter 26

_**hey guys let's see if you can spot the avatar references (they're pretty obvious lol)**_

_**-Ali**_

**Chapter 26**

**Nala's point of view**

"Not exactly" I told the three wide-eyed teens "but you will be going away for a while"

"But why?" Kopa asked

"Your father has a task for you" I say turning to Simba, I'm just going to let him explain the crazy plan he came up with

"The three of you will travel to the Waira pride where you will recruit new members for the lion guard, after that you'll be in charge of teaching the recruits the basic skills and knowledge they will need to join the pride" he explains "after you're done with that, you may return home"

"Daddy we already said we're sorry" Kiara protested "we won't fight anymore, promise"

"yes, but please don't make us do this" Kopa joined in

"You've been asking to be treated as adults and now I'm giving you a very important task, you will be out there on your own, you will be putting your knowledge and skills to the test and you'll need to be responsible, disciplined and determined to complete the task" I said, I hate the idea of my babies being out there but at least they will have each other, I know that they need something like this a 'rite of passage' to become responsible adults and strengthen their bond as siblings.

"I'm up for the challenge" Kion said with determination

"That's the spirit son!" Simba smiled at him

"But I don't understand why these two have to come; I should be in charge of the recruits" he remarked

"Exactly Father, these sounds like something Kion should be in charge of" his brother added

"Oh now you think I should be in charge of something, just because you don't want to go" Kion rolled his amber eyes

"And you know why I don't want to go? Because if I do I would probably end up cub-sitting you two and making sure you don't anything stupid" Kopa snapped back

"Cub-sitting us? You can't even hunt!" Kiara got in to the argument

"Or fight" Kion added

"I can do both of those things I simply chose not to, like you two airheads chose to not think before you act" Kopa said to them

"Enough!" Simba said "out there you will be forced to work together as a team so you better start acting like one"

"That sounds even worse than being banished" Kion muttered rubbing his temple

"I'd rather be grounded for a year" Kiara grumbled

"Get exited kids, cause you're leaving soon" Simba said with enthusiasm

"Can't you get us out of this mamma?" Kopa whispered with pleading eyes

"Our decision is final sweetie" I say and he covers his face with his paws muffling something under his breath

"Come on! We have some things to go over before you leave" Simba calls and they groan as they drag themselves to follow him "your grandmother will tell you everything you need to know about the Waira pride" the triplets would be making the long trip to Sarabi's birth pride and there they will meet Simba's cousin king Bumi who will help them choose the best recruits from the pride.

**Kopa's point of view**

Apparently mom and dad were set on us going on this 'life changing field trip' I don't want to say they're wrong but from my previous experiences spending that much time with my siblings always ends badly, I mean Kion was bleeding last night... but whatever we're going and that's final. Another thing I was not looking forward was telling Vitani about this especially since she's still mad at me; she and Tiifu were sitting by the waterhole when I approached her

"Hey" I greet them

"Hi Kopa" Tiifu says with a smile Vitani groans and looks away from me

"Vitani may I speak with you for a moment?" I ask

"Can't you see I'm with my sister?" she spat

"I can leave if you-" Tiifu began nervously

"No!" her sister glared at her "you're staying right here" the younger lioness lowered her head and kept quiet

"There's something important I need to tell you" I plead

"Then tell me!" she sneers

"I'm going away for a while" I say "My father sent me, Kion and Kiara to-"

"Not that again" she rolled her eyes "I've had it with your stupid excuses"

"I need to do this Vitani" "It's my duty as prince"

"What you need is to choose your priorities better" "what's more important for you, me or being a prince?" I hung my head down without saying a word, I have feelings for Vitani but I could never give up being a prince for her, it's who I am it's in my blood and I've worked hard to be a good one so I can show my father I would make a good king and the way I've done that is by never disappointing him and now he gave me and my siblings this task I'm not about to start but I couldn't bring myself to tell her that to her face my silence stretched for a moment before a low growl escaped her throat "you're not going to answer?"

"Vitani, you know how badly I want to be king" I said

"What I know is that that you're going to be a terrible king because you're a lily livered pushover"

"And know that very well don't you? You've been pushing me to love you all this time!" I say losing my temper "but guess what? I'm done being a pushover and I'm done with you!"

"No! I'm done with you and I hate you Kopa! Don't you ever speak to me ever again!" she yelled before storming away, I groaned and rubbed my face with my paws muttering to myself for a while before I realized Tiifu was still sitting there her big green eyes were on me.

"I…" I began and she looked away "I'm sorry you had to see that"

"She's my sister I'm used to that" she speaks in a brittle voice

"It was still wrong, I shouldn't have said that to her" I said

"It's okay Vitani is difficult, demanding and very mean… I'm glad you finally stood up to her, I wish I could do the same" she says and then she laughs sadly "guess I'm the only lily livered pushover here"

"That's not true you're just a sweet and kind soul" I tell her with a smile "Vitani is lucky to have a sister as patient as you"

"Thank you Kopa" she said with a shy smile, I liked the way she said my name her soft voice gave it a unique very sweet and angelic tone

"No problem" I smile giving her a hug "don't let her get to you Tiif, just keep your head up and that beautiful smile on your face" she pulled from the hug to look up at me with that very smile on her face

"Well, I should get going "I sigh remembering that everyone was waiting for me right now

"Good luck on your trip!" she said as I left

"I'm going to need a lot of that dealing with those two" I say referring to my siblings

"Kopa?" she called and I turned to Look at her "I think you're going to be a great king" she says bashfully

"Thanks" I say taken aback by how meaningful it was to hear that from her and special those words of encouragement made me feel.

It was time to leave but before we did Rafiki performed a ceremony to wish us luck on our trip, he held a coconut shell filled with pigment and called us one at the time to give us a special ceremonial marking "Kopa, I bestow on you the mark of the Wise" he said as he drew in my forehead, the mark of the wise is a horizontal arc above a dot it is the same mark he gave my grandfather Mufasa when he was my age "may wisdom continue to guide your all your decisions and may you use it to lead those around you" I bowed my head and thanked him returning to my place, next was my sister "for you Kiara, the mark of the trusted" she sat still as he drew a three horizontal dots on her forehead the same my grandmother Sarabi recieved "may your integrity inspire those around you and guide you through the honest path" She smiled and thanked him returning to her spot next to me to let our brother have his turn "and for you Kion, the mark the brave" Rafiki said drawing the crescent-shaped mark that resembles the moon on him just like the one he bestowed on my father "may your heart remain full of courage and may it keep those around you safe"

After it was over we said our said our farewells and let me tell you saying goodbye to dad and my grandmothers was hard but anywhere near as hard as it was saying goodbye to mom, I was going to miss my mamma and I admit that with no shame whatsoever I've never been away from her for longer than a day but I know it will be hard to not see her smile and hear her telling us how much she loved us every day. She had been fighting off the tears for a while but she hugged me tightly our matching eyes couldn't contain the tears, I didn't want to let go of her "You'll be alright baby" she whispered with a smile before letting me go to hug Kiara, she cried holding on to mom "You can do this sweetie" mom said told her rubbing her back "show your father and brothers that you're a brave little princess" she said and Kiara giggled pulling back wiping off her tears, mom then turned to Kion who was looking away strangely quiet "Kion?" She called with a sad smiled

"I'm fine" He said sniffling , he walked towards her giving her a quick hug "bye mom" he then turned to us and asked "can we go now?" Kiara and I glanced at each other knowing it was time there was no turning back our journey was about to begin.

"Be careful out there" dad said "and remembers to take care of each other"


	27. Chapter 27

**AN**

**Hi guys I just started classes again so, sorry if it takes me a bit longer to post, but don't worry it won't be to bad :)**

**-Ali**

**Chapter 27**

**Kiara's point of view**

This was a rare occasion we were walking were dead silent nobody said a word only the sound of our paws walking quickly through the burning rock ground , you know the only thing my brothers have in common is that the three of us are very talkative and outgoing traits passed down to us from our father that and our mother's strong temper so this lack of communication leads me to believe that my brothers aren't on the best of moods either but at the same time I think it also has to do with the fact that we really never been alone, just the three of us there's always someone else there and when there's not Kion and Kopa get ready to rumble… okay, okay I admit so do I but I'm never really mad or have anything against my them I just like to annoy them, but they really do get mad and angry at each other even if Kopa doesn't wants to admit he does too and it's starting to worry me I mean it got us to this point so I realized that this really isn't normal all siblings fight, bicker and tease each other but there's something else going on and I don't like it I've tried to remain impartial by never siding with one and teaming up against the other I learned that the day Kopa stood up for himself never I thought he would and I respect him now for doing it but it only made things worst with Kion and now the two hard-headed brothers go hard whenever they fight and let me just tell you that I would not interfere if they decide to fight while we're here cause there's no way I could break off the fight each is at least a hundred pounds heavier than me so that's just a giant nope.

Ugh this silence it's driving me crazy I need interaction so I decided to break the silence "How long will it take us to get to our first stop?" I ask

"I'm sure we'll get to the jungle by sunset" Kopa answers with his eyes "we can spend the night there and keep traveling in the morning"

"Or" Kion says halting and turning to look at us "we could keep traveling through the night and avoid this scorching heat"

"Kion, we can't keep going forever we should rest for the night get something to eat and drink" Kopa says matter-of-factly and Kion rolls his eyes… oh here we go this is how their fights usually start

"The faster we get to the Waira lands the faster get those" Kion retorted "we've only walked for a few hours; a few more won't kill us" Kopa opened his mouth to argue but I gave him a pleading look, the last thing we need right now is them fighting and he knew that too so he just sighed and nodded agreeing with Kion's plan my amber eyed brother smiled proudly as we walked. We reached the jungle right when the sun was setting the remaining rays made the jungle look as if someone had dusted gold powder on the vegetation and even the water, Kopa and I stopped walking to take in the beauty of this place "guys come on!" Kion says

I don't care what Kion says I want some water and I wouldn't mind staying here for a while "hang on I want some water!" I say walking toward the river and Kopa followed my lead

"Fine but hurry" Kion says and he too comes to have a drink

"Isn't this place great?" I say looking around

"It is beautiful" kopa nods with a smile

"yeah, yeah" Kion says "but we need to keep going"

"Kion…" I start "I'm really tired can we just stop to rest? Just for an hour, then we can keep going, please?" I plead with him

"Fine" he sighs going back to drink some more water, ha! It worked yet again

Kopa raises an eyebrow at me as we walked to find a confortable spot to rest and I whisper "and that are how you do it" my brothers may act tough but they're still softies when it comes to me just like daddy

"Normally I wouldn't approve of you using your powers of manipulation to get your way, but this time they actually came in handy" he says and I smirk.

Later when Kion joined us and that awful silence fell upon us again I looked up at the glimmering stars and said "remember when mommy and daddy would take us stargazing every night?"

"Yeah" Kion smiled "And remember when there was a meteorite shower and Kopa freak out and wouldn't come out to watch it with us?"

Kopa calmly said "Remember that time Rafiki smashed the baobab fruit on your head because you were being extremely irritating?"

"Remember when you tried to race Fuli and you sprained your ankle?" kion asked him

"Remember you fell from the platform?"Kopa smirked and I laughed this had turned into them bringing up their most embarrassing moments and I was enjoying it

"Kiara pushed me off the platform" he narrowed his eyes at me

"Then you sat on her and she almost died?" Kopa continued shaking his brown maned head at Kion "you two are rather aggressive"

"so is your girlfriend"Kion teased our brother "Remember when you glanced at Zuri for longer than two seconds and Vitani went crazy almost killed you two?"

"can we just go back to reminiscing the times you were an idiot?" he sighed

"Oh but its true Kopa, she's dangerous and a bit crazy" I say "that's the only reason the girls go after Kion they're afraid of her"

"That's not true they go after me because I'm incredibly handsome" Kion says combing back his mane with his paws

"Sure…" I roll my eyes and turn to Kopa "but you know I hope there's one girl that is not too scared because I really don't want you to end up with Vitani"

"Yeah" Kion nodded along "mamma doesn't likes her and she likes everyone… that should tell you something"

"I know what you mean and you don't have to worry that anymore…" Kopa said quietly, Kion and I exchanged surprised looks usually Kopa would get defensive when we said something about her but now he was agreeing "we broke up before we left"

"Oh…" I say "how? Why?"

Kopa sighed and began "we just want different things in life, she's never been supportive of my dreams and-"

"Wait! you broke with her?" Kion interrupts Kopa nods "good timing bro, you broke and you ran before she could tear you to pieces"

"I didn't plan to do it like that, it just happened" he explains "anyways it's over now so can we just move on?"

"You're you need move on" Kion says "and you will, when we get to the Waira lands we're going to find you a nice, pretty, not crazy lioness and-"

"You're crazy, that's not going to happen" Kopa laughed

"Why not?" kion asks

"Yeah, why not?" I chime in and he rolls his teal eyes

"You still love her then" Kion raises an eyebrow

"Still love her? I don't think I ever did" Kopa admits and our jaws dropped

"Then there's nothing stopping you!" Kion says

"Unless…" I begin and he glances at me "…you like some else" he looks away nervously; my brother is the worst when it comes to hiding his feelings "you do, don't you?!" I grin "Who is it? Is it Zuri?"

"Is it Rani or Sita?" Kion asks "I don't mind you can have of them but not the two"

"No! I'm not like you" Kopa shudders "I don't like anyone okay?" he says standing up "now can we keep going? We've had enough rest"

"He's lying…" I whisper to Kion

"Totally" he whispers back as we stand up to follow our brother

We walked through the jungle for a few hours the green and thick vegetation tropical forest turned to dried grasslands that diminished by the step until we we're standing on the edge desert nothing but for miles ahead of us this openness and emptiness was truly intimidating, we looked up to the sky to find the star that would guide us to our destination but also subconsciously to ask the kings of the past to protect us.

"How big is this desert?" I asked

"Really big" Kopa answered turning to Kion "that's why I wanted to eat, rest and get water before we ventured in it"

"If we follow that star we'll be out of it in a couple hours" Kion retorted "and if we get thirsty we can drink cactus juice"

"Let's drink from that one" I say pointing and running a few feet away to the rounded cactus on the ground

"Oh let me see it" Kion says walking towards me

"Okay, two things" Kopa says from his spot "one: there's only like two species of cactus that you can drink off without hallucinating or dying" he says, Kion halts before getting here

"And the second?" I ask backing away from the cactus, suddenly the wind started picking up and I couldn't hear Kopa's answer from where I was "what?"

"Don't run off like that!" he yells, I opened my mouth to answer and I feel dust flying in it

"Sandstorm!" Kion yells I look at the gigantic cloud of sand was coming toward us

"We need to stick together or we'll get lost!" Kopa yelled at the top of his lungs, the wind kept getting stronger by the second so strong that I couldn't walk against it to get to them

"Guys the wind won't let me walk!" I said as loud as I could

"Stay there we'll get to you!" Kion yelled everything around me went dark the cloud covered the stars and the moon completely and I couldn't see my brothers anymore

Guys!" I scream I was panicking at this point I couldn't hear anything but the wind gushing around me at this point it was so strong that I felt it pushing me on the opposite direction I was trying to go I couldn't fight it I couldn't see, I couldn't hear and I couldn't find my brothers I felt helpless.


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

**Kopa's point of view**

"Kiara!" Kion and I been calling for her for a while without response, seems like the sandstorm- more like tornado if you ask me, moved everything around nothing is in where it was including my sister, giant dunes of sand were surrounding us now and I was trying my hardest to get to the top of one of them so I could get a better look of my surroundings, once on top I try to find at least a speck of gold on the distance "There's no sign of her anywhere" I tell my brother shaking my head " this is bad Kion, this is really bad" I cannot believe this it's our first day out here and one of us is already missing, I hope nothing happens to our sister.

"Don't worry we'll find her" he says sounding like he was trying to convince himself too, looking around the vast desert "we just need to split up and look for her"

"No, no, no" I say "we're not doing that, it's too dangerous"

"You swallowed too much sand you're talking crazy" I shake my head

"We'll find her faster that way" he insists

"Kion, I said no" I say firmly and he rolls his eyes

"I think you're forgetting that out here you're not the future king and dad's favorite" he says frowning "so you can't tell me what to do"

"Dad loves us all equally" I say firmly "this has nothing to do with this, why are we even talking about this?"

"Because I'm sick of you always trying to tell me what to do!" he snaps "you're not even the oldest technically, we're triplets!"

"We need to keep moving if we want to find Kiara" I say turning away

"Classic Kopa technique; evade and avoid" he mutters

"Whatever" I say

"Yeah, whatever" my brother says walking on the opposite direction "I'll go this way and you go that way, we'll meet on the edge of the desert at night"

"Fine" I mutter walking away, he's infuriating sometimes and the things he says are not true! I really think this is a stupid idea but at the same time I don't want to be around my brother right now… okay maybe he was right about that I do tend to walk away and avoid conflict but he's wrong about everything else, father chose me as heir and he does spend more time with me but it's because he needs to teach me a lot of things not because I'm his favorite both Kion and Kiara could've come along with us but they never showed interest in learning and I could tell that hurt dad feelings, also I never boss Kion around or tell him what to do- okay maybe I do sometimes but I just want to show dad that I have leadership skills but never listens he just goes ahead and does whatever he wants without thinking things through, I would never tell him this but I wasn't surprised when Rafiki gave him the mark of the brave and I felt a bit jealous because it was the same mark dad received another thing they have to bond over, I know dad loves us all equally but Kion's relationship with him is different they're like best friends. sometimes I wish I could be more like him because he's just like dad he even has the same mane color and he's always been better than me in everything that's why I try so hard to impress father But Kion is better than me in everything more outgoing, confident, likeable, braver, stronger and oh yeah he's also the fiercest animal in the Pridelands because of the roar and what do I get? The mark of the wise… not very impressive, deep inside I feel like dad wishes he could've chosen Kion as his heir instead of me.

**Kion's point of view**

I'll show Kopa I'm right, he thinks he's the only one that can come up with ideas and plans but today I will prove him wrong when I find Kiara and bring her to the edge of the desert by evening I've had no luck so far but I was feeling lucky… or at least I thought I was hours later and nothing "where are you Pridelands Kiara!?" I groaned frustrated

"Who's Kiara?" a voice asked making me jump, I turned around swiftly and growled lowly only to see a young lioness smirking at me she was rather thin and a bit older than me but she was cute so why not?

"That's not important" I smiled "what's important is who are you beautiful lady?"

"That's none of your business" She laughs and stretches her body

"I make it my business to get to know every beautiful lioness I see" I smirked

"Oh really?" she asks getting closer to me

"Yes, really" I say getting even closer

"Umm… and how well do you like to get to know them?" she asked giving an once-over

"Very well" I say giving her one

"Well…" she says putting her paw on my shoulder. Ha! She likes me she's leaning in closer to me "you're not getting to know this one!" she laughs pushing me back and running off and something pulls me to follow her like an invisible leash, Kiara and Kopa were forgotten, she had my undivided attention I don't know how long I've been following her, she the sun is low when I catch up with her

"You don't give up, do you?" she laughs

"A pridelander prince never gives up" I say smugly

"Um what a subtle way to let me know you're a prince" she smirks "what am I supposed to do now? Submit to you immediately?"

"That's how it usually works" I shrug, she rubs her head under my chin

"Not this time kid!" a deep voice growls

Oh no…

**Kopa's point of view**

I've spent the whole day walking under the hot sun and I saw no sign of Kiara when the night fell I got to the edge of the desert and sat there waiting for brother hoping he was on his way with her and that we could continue our travel without any more problems. It's getting late and I'm getting worried but I'm also starving I'm so hungry I swear I can smell meat in the air Ugh what is taking Kion so long? I get hungrier by the second and there it is again the imaginary smell is even stronger! How is this possible? Unless… I sniff the air and I catch a whiff that confirms my suspicion; fresh meat, I am not imagining it I stand up trying to find its source, I have to be careful here whoever hunted this could be around so I head for the thicket trying to follow it as quietly as I can, the meat is near and my mouth is watering and my stomach is growling but to no surprise the carcass was taken by two lionesses and a lion I decide that it's not worth the risk they could be aggressive so I decide to leave before they see me "hey you!" oh no too late

"f-forgive me sir, I-I didn't mean to intrude" I stutter turning around to face the blonde manned male he narrows his eyes studying me I try to stay still and quiet as he does this the lionesses stood up and walked towards us

"Young lion you must be starving" the older lioness says and I shake my head but my stomach growls loudly

"I'm fine ma'am, I was just leaving" I say nervously while the male keeps observing me closely

"Vayetsi, honey stop that you're scaring him!" the brown eyed female says

"Ginny! Don't reveal my identity to him!" Vayetsi says and Ginny and rolls her eyes the younger lioness approaches and he turns to her "stand back Livy"

"Dad, you just revealed everyone's identities" the teenaged lioness laughs and the male frowned and looked away; she then turned to me with a smile "please forgive my father. Would you like to join us?"

"I would be delighted to" I said I know I shouldn't but hunger made me throw prudence away, I feed from the zebra careful not to be rude and eat more than my share as guest

"So… what's your name?" Livy asked her grey eyes sparkling with curiosity

Where are my manners? Did I leave them in back home or something? "I'm Kopa of the Pridelands"

"The Pridelands" Livy echoes "is it as beautiful as everyone says?"

"I would say even more" I smile

"Wow! I would love to live there one day" she says batting her lashes at me "leave the nomad life, find a pride and settle down"

"You could. My pride is always welcoming to new comers, especially young females-" I say and I hear Vayetsi growling lowly, oh he thinks I'm flirting with his daughter? Does she think I'm flirting with her? "To join our hunting party… we have some of the best huntresses in the world" I say trying to make clear I'm just being polite; the last thing in my mind right now is flirting after the whole mess with Vitani I'm not interested in anyone except- ahem never mind no one… I'm not interested in anyone.

"Uh huh" the father says "if you're pride is so welcoming and wonderful, then what are you doing out here on your own?"

"Well sir, at this very moment I'm traveling with my brother and sister, but we got separated in last night sandstorm" I tell them

"Oh poor dear" Ginny says "I'm sure you'll find them soon"

"Thank you ma'am" I bow my head "and thank you all for sharing your food with me"

"You are such a polite young lion, you're mamma taught you well" she smiles "but that's just how we nomads are, we're glad to share the little we have"

"If you're ever near the Pridelands, you'll be more than welcome to stay if you wish you would fit right in" I say standing up, I hope they accept my offer they're a nice family and they could have a better life in the Pridelands.

"Of course, I'm sure king Simba wouldn't mind three nomads walking in to his lands" the blonde male scoffs "I've heard stories about the lion guard, no thank you kid"

"I'm sure my father would welcome your family with open arms" I say "I just have to tell him and the guard that I invited you"

"Your father?" Vayetsi blinked "king Simba is your father?!"

"Yes sir" I nod

"No wonder you're so polite, a prince!" his wife smiled "Livy, can you believe we had dinner with a prince?" She asked but her daughter only stared at me in silence with her jaw hanging, okay… time to leave!

"Well, I have to get going now, thank you again" I say with a smile

"Bye dear, have a safe trip!" Ginny waves and nudges his mate and daughter to wave

"Bye… prince Kopa" Livy says lowly

**Kion's point of view**

Okay so here holding on to a branch dangling, a cliff under me and a mad male lion above trying to kill me, a less than ideal situation if you ask me even more when I heard the tree branch cracking. I can't use the roar again that's how I got in this hanging situation and I don't think that lioness is going to help either so yeah …fun's over I had a good life, not long but good and-

"Excuse me" I suddenly heard a familiar voice; I looked up and saw brother standing behind the angry male

"What do you want?!" the lion spat

"You see that lion dangling from the cliff?" my brother asked

"Of course I see it! I was the one to chaise him up there" he replied

"Well, he's my brother and I demand you release him" he continued putting on a brave face

"And why would I want do that?! This punk was messing with my girl, so now he's going to have to learn not to do it the hard way" he snorted

"I understand… what do you say you and Kion apologize to each other and we move on with our lives like nothing ever happened?" my brother negotiated, what the hell Kopa!

"Apologize?! He tried to kill me!" I said getting down from the tree

"Yes Kion, but can you blame him?" Kopa smirked making me roll my eyes at her "apologize"

"Alright I'm sorry…" I muttered

"Great! And now we part ways as unlikely friends, thank you very much sir bye!" Kopa said standing between the cliff and the male

"I'm not going anywhere" the male said growling and preparing to attack

"Yes you are" my brother said, the male roared and pounced, Kopa ducked and the guy flew off the edge of the cliff, Kopa then reached his paw for me to grab it

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I said hugging my brother "I seriously thought I was going to die"

"Hey! Come back here!" the lion yelled he was standing on a small ledge "you can't leave me here!"

"Don't worry I'll tell your girl to come and get you!" I laughed raising my paw to high-paw my brother but he only glared at me and turned to walk away "it's a funny story you know, I was looking for Kiara and then this girl showed up and- I told her to leave me alone cause I was busy but she ignored me and then this guy appears and starts chasing me and well I tried using the roar but there was a landslide -"

"I heard the roar you idiot" he snaps "that's how I found you"

"Did I thank you already? You're the best brother ever" I said

"Let's just go find a place to spend the night and tomorrow we'll search for Kiara my way" he sighed and after all that I'm not about to argue with him.

_**A-N**_

_**wow that was a long chapter but I wanted to celebrate my that we got over the 100 review mark ! thank you so much guys you're the bestest of the best and you deserve cookies, cake and ice cream!**_

_** Also the names of the family Kopa meets are the names of real lions, you can check out his youtube channel "the lion whisperer" aka Kevin Richardson I love and admire that guy and this is my little homage him and his lions.**_

_**-ali**_


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29**

**Kiara's point of view**

I woke up gasping for breath and coughing, my mouth has never been so dry my head hurts and I have sand in my eyes "Where am I?" I mutter to myself rubbing my eyes trying to recognize anything

"You're safe... in the Aduli lands" a voice answer I whipped my head towards it

"Kovu!" I exclaim standing up a little too fast and falling back to the ground when my head starts pounding "what happened?" I ask him

"I was about to ask you that" he says sitting next to me concerned "I found you unconscious near my borders" I must've hit my head with a rock or something wow that sandstorm was stronger than I thought if practically dragged me all the way here

"There was a sandstorm and my brothers-" I gasp "what happened to them?!"

"It was actually a small tornado" he explains "I didn't see them out there; I thought you were hunting out here on your own

"I have to find them!" I say struggling to get up

"Kiara, please you're hurt" he says stopping me

"My brothers must be looking for me; they could be hurt or worst-" I stammered

"I'll go looking for them" he stated giving me a reassuring smile "I'll find them, I promise" I don't know if it was that smile or the fact that my head was about to explode but I reluctantly agreed and ended up staying while he went looking for my brothers, I was incredibly thirsty and I decided to venture out the den I was in. I was greeted by a lioness and there was no denying she was kovu's mother her fur was a bit darker but they had the same eye color she escorted me to a small lake to have a drink, the water was cool and refreshing and the landscape was quite beautiful I've never been here before of heard anything about the Aduli lands it was set in among the desert mountains a green oasis in the middle of the sand, as for the pride that lives here the lionesses seemed friendly and welcoming when I joined them for a meal.

"How exciting, you travel on your own and see the world it must be tons of fun" of the younger ones said

"Well it was, but now it's so much" I say worried, I've been here for a whole day and Kovu hasn't returned

"Don't worry Kiara" kovu's mother Eshe says putting her paw on mine "my son it's a great tracker and he knows his way around the desert, he'll find them soon" I sighed and looked up to the stars feeling the lionesses here are nice and tried to make me feel at home but I I'm still sad and worried, I've never spent so much time away from my brothers and for the first time since we left I feel alone and homesick, I miss my family.

**-that same night-**

**Kopa's point of view**

"Do it again" I tell my brother he sighs and plants his paws firmly on the sandy ground; I take coverage behind as he inhales deeply filling his chest with air "now!"

"ROAR" His powerful roar shook the ground the great lions of the past accompanying him in the clouds even in the middle of the night I'm sure this can be seen and miles away and if Kiara is around she'll find us this was the new plan- my plan and Kion for once was being cooperative and I only had to save him from certain death to get him to listen to me, he stopped roaring and turned to me "can I have a break?"

"You had a break yesterday and almost got yourself killed" I say and looks down at his paws frowning ashamed, I roll my eyes and sigh, maybe I'm being a little too hard on him "do it one more time and then we can go get some water" he nods and does it one more time before we head towards a small creed the water wasn't as refreshing as I wished after the sun heated it the whole day but at least we found some, Kiara might not be so lucky. I sit next to it and sigh sadly I was feeling terrible I was failing miserably and I was losing hope, I'm frustrated and grumpy I just want to find my sister. I turn to look at Kion and he was struggling to keep his eyes opened, his voice was strained and I could hear his stomach growling we've been doing this all night he hasn't eaten since we left I did and he has been doing most of the physical work without resting so I let him get some sleep and while he does I did something I never thought I would be capable to do… hunting, It was a decent size hare I was able to catch it despite its speed I felt awful as sunk my teeth in its throat but I knew my brother needed it, I walked back and he was still asleep I sat in front of him outing the hare in front of him, Kion sniffed the air in his sleep and slowly opened his eyes he shifted his glance between me and the prey

"you need to eat" I say

"Where did you get this?" he asked

"I hunted it for you" I answer "now go ahead and eat it" I say and he digs in without another word

When he was done he turns to me and says "thank you..."

"You're welcome" I reply

"And… I'm sorry" he sighs and I turn to him surprised, I've never heard my brother apologize unless our parents forced him to "I know I can be a jerk sometimes…most the times" he says scratching the back of his head "it's just that… you have no idea how frustrating it is to have a brother that is better than you in everything" I was shocked to hear him say that and I could tell he was being honest but I just couldn't believe he felt the same way I did and I wondered if Kiara felt the same, this wasn't our parents fault though they showed us the same amount of affection and attention and they wouldn't let our achievements get to our head they always taught us to cheer for other's successes and that doing the best you can do is more important than being best and to enjoy your experiences and improvement without continually comparing yourself to your siblings, but our competitiveness overshadowed their teachings and I can see that now.

"I think I have a slight clue of what that's like" I say with a chuckle and he gives me a bewildered look "and I'm sorry too…I let my competitiveness get the best of me"

"We both do" he sighs "But I'm thankful to have you as my brother…"

"So am I" I smile at him and he punches my shoulder

"That's enough sentimental talk" he says and I laugh "let's keep looking for our sister"

**Kion's point of view**

I had no idea Kopa felt the same way guess we're not that different after all we're both stubborn and competitive in our own way, thank you mom and dad for passing those qualities to us anyways I'm glad I'm glad we had that talk I meant every word it felt right to apologize to him and I was pleasantly surprised when he did the same. funny how we've been siblings our whole life but only now we're learning to be brothers I hope this newfound bond between us will help us find Kiara soon.

"I hope she's okay" Kopa says as the sun starts to rise, we've been looking for her day now.

"I'm sure she is" I say in a raspy voice "don't worry Kopa, we'll find her"

"Why are you always so optimistic?" he asks me

"Someone has to be" I shrugged

"I hear someone approaching us" Kopa whispers, I stand up getting in fighting position and I cannot believe what I see "Kovu?" Kopa asks

"Kopa, Kion!" he smiles

Oh of course it all makes sense now! Kiara goes missing and that outsider lives around here, he kidnaped her! "Where's our sister? I snap

"She's okay" I'm going to kill this guy he just admitted he kidnapped her! I walk towards him growling lowly and he backs away "I- I found her unconscious and took her back to my home; she's waiting for you there"

Kopa grins and I sigh relived "let's go then!" My brother says happily

We got to his pride within a few hours; Kovu looked inside a small den and frowned "she was right here" he said

I sighed frustrated, is this guy lying to us? Maybe he's just planning an ambush- "ah!" we yell as someone pushes me and Kopa from behind making us fall face first to the ground

"Guys you're here!" Kiara exclaims "I'm glad you two are okay"

"Kiara!" Kopa says getting up to bump heads with our sister and hug her

"Kiara we're going to have to tie a boomerang around your neck!" I tease and she punches my arm "are you okay?" I ask her to make sure

"I am" she says giving me a hug "thanks to Kovu" great first I had to apologize and now I have say thank you and be nice to Kovu… the desert really loves to push me out of my comfort zone

"Thank you for us" Kopa bows his head

"Yeah, thanks man" I nod along

"I'm glad to help" he bows his head back "please join me for dinner before you leave" Gee he's as kingly as my brother… anyways we accepted his invitation and shared a meal with him. Kopa is usually overprotective of Kiara but he bonded quickly with Kovu they had a lot in common and became best friends immediately as for me, I think he's alright he's a good guy and I'm willing to give him a chance after all it seems like my sister is falling for him but that doesn't mean I'm not going to tease her about this.


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30**

**Kiara's point of view**

"We're here! We're here!" I exclaimed when I finally had the giant waterfall my grandmother said we would see when we arrived in front of me

"Finally, can we take a break?" Kopa sighed relieved and sat down on the ground

"Come on, Kopa we're almost there" Kion pushed him to stand up

"Yeah let's go!" I insist and he groans as we continue walking "What do you guy's uncle Bumi will be like?"

"Probably old and boring" Kion laughed

Kopa shakes his head and says "father says he's rather…odd so I don't know if he's boring but he sure is old" Kion stifled a laugh while I giggled

"Isn't it crazy that great grandfather Ahadi sent males from the Pridelands when grandma was born now their great grandchildren are coming back?" I say getting excited as we approach

"Yeah" Kopa smiles "I'm surprised you know about that"

"Sometimes I listen while you're blabbering about our family's history" I shrug and he laughs "I can't wait to meet our cousin; grandma says she's super nice"

"And I can't wait to finally get some rest" Kopa yawned our brother turns to us with a serious face

"Remember guys, we're here on a mission" Kion said looking back at us as he walked ahead

"Yeah, yeah we know commander Kion" I roll my eyes

"Kion, I think you should do this on your own" my brown manned brother told him

"No… I-I don't think I can-" Kion shook his head

"You're the future leader of the lion guard you can pick the best recruits for the guard" Kopa assured him "who knows better than you?" I saw confidence glowing in Kion's amber eyes as he nodded his head. Aw it's nice to see my brothers supporting each other we kept walking ahead until I felt one of my back paws being tugged "Kion, Kopa!" I screamed falling to the ground my brothers whipped their heads towards me

"Kiara! Ah!" Kopa exclaimed before he fell as well what is going on? I was on the ground and then I felt someone covering my head with something

"Kopa, Kiara!" Kion grunted falling to the ground "whoever this is you need to let us go now!"

That someone was dragging us somewhere and I was not about to let him or her do it without putting a up a fight, I was screaming and kicking but I couldn't release myself "Stop struggling outsiders!" a female voice yelled "you have entered these lands without authorization, state your business"

"What?" Kion asked confused

"Who are you and what are doing in my lands?" she demanded aggressively

Kopa cleared his throat and tried to remain calm "Allow me to introduce us please, I'm-"

"Shut it!" she snapped

"But you asked us a question…" he countered nervously

"Technically, she asked two" Kion muttered

"Quiet!" the lioness growled

"Okay look you need to calm down" my red manned brother started and the lionesses growls became louder

"The king is expecting us!" I busted out and her growling stopped

"Please take us to him" Kopa pleaded

"Well, well, well who do we got here?" an strident male voice asked

"These juveniles were trespassing into our lands" the female replied

"We're not trespassers!" I protested

"Silence!" she snapped "They dishonored us by drinking from our water and walking in our lands-"

"And breathing our air" the lion laughed loudly "calm down Kya, let me see them" after the male said that they proceeded to removing the coverage from our faces and standing before us was an elder lion, his greyish black mane was messy and he had a huge grin on his face, I sighed relived this was uncle Bumi grandma had described him perfectly

"What should we do with them father?" the lioness asked, Father? Is that our cousin?

"You should…" the kings though for a moment "throw them a feast!"

"A feast?!" the dark tan lioness exclaimed, her father nodded and turned to us

"Everyone in my kingdom has gotten fat from our Feasts, including me!" he laughed patting his belly and we smiled warily at him

"Guess you were right about him being odd..." Kion whispered to Kopa

"Surely you can't be serious" she glared at his father

"I am serious and don't call me Shirley" he laughed loudly "now your untie your cousins and send out the hunting party"

"What?" her face fell

"These are your uncle Simba's kids; Kopa, Kiara and Kion" the lion gestured to us "Kids, meet my daughter Kya"

"Hi…"

"How's it going?"

"Hey" we greeted her slightly annoyed

"Hello…" she stuttered and the turned to her father "why didn't you tell me we were expecting them?"

"Well I wanted to have some fun messing with them. She scared you all didn't she?" the lion laughed manically before opening his arm to us "come give your uncle Bumi a hug!"

**Kion's point of view**

"These young lions some of our best soldiers, Kya has them well trained" king Bumi said to us as we walked up to a platform in front of the lined up lions

"They all aspire to return to their ancestor's land" our cousin said "some words of encouragement would be appropriate"

Kopa and Kiara turned to me and nodded signaling for me to step forward and give the speech I had prepared ugh public speaking is not my thing as everyone looked at me expectantly I blanked I opened my mouth and nothing came out an awkward silence surrounded me and after what felt like an eternity Kopa stepped in clearing his throat "as you may know our father king Simba of the Pridelands has sent choose the bravest, the fastest and the strongest among you, so for next week you will be put through training and tested to see if you can earn yourselves a place on the Pridelands legendary lion guard" he paused turning to me and continued "and as tradition dictates to select and train the next generation of guards we have here: the Pridelands fiercest and future leader of the lion guard, Kion." gestures to me and I bow my head as the recruits cheer "gentlemen, the Pridelands salute you. May the kings of the be with you" the cheering grew louder as we stepped down from the platform and went into a cave

"Well that was really encouraging" Kya chuckled

"It almost made me want to try out for the lion guard" uncle Bumi added with a grin

"Thanks" Kopa smiled. After we ate my siblings went to sleep and I sat out enjoying the cool evening breeze as thought about earlier, my brother always knows what to say and how to say it except when it comes to girls and usually I would be annoyed but this time I'm glad he was here to step in, now that he took care of the formalities I can focus on the more important aspect of this mission the actual training and selection of the recruits the only problem is I'm also a bit intimidated by that task

"Got a little scared in front of the recruits, didn't you?" Kya said coming to sit next to me

"Yeah…" I say lowering my head and looking away

"I know these guys and you've gotta use military discipline to whip them into shape. The only way to deal with new recruits is to break them down, so you can build them back up, that will show them who's in charge" she said with determination, she was my uncle's only child and her mother died when she was a cub, she was tough as nails she was in charge of the guards, leader of the hunting party and future queen, and though she's only a few years younger than me her presence commanded respect and had a wise aura to her.

"Thanks for the insight" I smiled at her

"My pleasure" she returned the smile

The next morning the sun had barely risen when I busted inside the cave roaring, the recruits suddenly sat up and rubbed their eyes sleepily

"Dawn patrol! Everyone up!" I yelled

"What are you doing?" Kiara demanded

"It's barely light out Kion" Kopa yawned rubbing the back of his head

"I'm taking Kya's advice, I'm going to break them down and build them back up" I said to them and they stared in disbelief, I then turned to the confused recruits and said "get moving, recruits!" the guys followed me through a ten mile hike, obstacle course, combat training, speed play and running up hill before they started complaining

"Kion" Kiara called from behind me with her was Kopa "You're pushing too hard. Maybe we should give them a break"

"Kiara, I have this under control" I reassure them keeping an eye on the recruits

"But Kion-" she insisted

"Kopa said it himselff, who knows better than me?"I tell her she frowns and rolls her eyes, I turn to kopa and say "I'm going to need your help for this"him and he sighs nods

"Gather around everyone" I command as the last of them catches up, they grunt and protest as they follow me, they will thank me later when they earn their place on the lion guard "my brother is the fastest runner I know, so if you want to be chosen as the fasted you will have to beat him"

"this is ridiculous" Kiara says before storming away, well at least my brother was being supportive.

During the race one of the lions injured his paw so I decided end the training for the day so he could rest while Kopa stayed with the recruits they surrounded him "when will you become king?" one of the older recruits asked

"It's customary for the crown prince to become king before his fourth birthday but it's up to my father really whenever he feels I'm ready for the throne" he explained to the guys

"There are a lot of customs and traditions back in the Pridelands, huh?" one of them said

"Yes and it's very important to know about them, it's part of who we are" Kopa said and they smiled

"My grandfather used to tell me stories about the Pridelands when I was a cub but I don't remember them very well" the youngest of them said "my favorite one was about Mohatu's star" oh kings not that old boring story

"Would you tell it to us?"

"Please?"

"We want to hear it"

Kopa smiled and looked up to the darkening sky and began "long ago king Mohatu found himself standing on top of pride rock looking up at the skies and pleading with the great kings of the past…" as he went I left the scene, he's good story teller I'll give him that but I don't need to hear how Mohatu ended the drought for a thousandth time, I went back to my cave and Kiara was there giving me a disapproving look "You know, these guys actually want to be part of the lion guard don't make them change their mind" she said with a serious face "You have to be patient, show them that you care, earn their respect-"

"You're asking me to be like Kopa, I can't do that" I sigh, I'm not like my brother, my father or my grandfather, I'm still trying to figure things out.

"Then be the best version of yourself" she smiles before exiting the cave, this whole leadership thing is confusing there's many different ways to lead and I'm just going to have to find my own way to do it.


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter 31**

**Nala's point of view**

I sighed looking away at the horizon, I already did everything I had to do today; I went hunting, met with the herds went for a walk with my mother and Sarabi and that's pretty much it, it's not even noon and I'm free sit back at pride rock and while my friends talk, I reminisce of the time when a day wasn't long enough, when I had three troublemakers to take care of, my sweet little cubs grew fast but no matter how old they got my daily activities always seemed to revolve around them but now they're not here and I feel incomplete, I mean sure I have my husband, the rest of my family and friends but I still miss my cubs specially when I see my pride sisters with their sons and daughters.

I was not hungry and decided to wait for Simba's return to eat. From the distance I watched the pride getting positioned around the kills to eat. Vitani marched in with a sour look on her face pushing Tiifu to make her way towards the food

"Hey! Watch it Vitani!" Tiifu protested. Vitani scoffed and rolled her eyes "you're mean"

"And you're a cry baby" the older sister said

"I'm not the one crying every night over some guy" Tama's youngest daughter muttered and the whole pride turned to look at the scene

"What?" she spat turning to her, getting face to face with her sister

"I've seen you crying, we all have" Tiifu said standing tall "and you know what? You deserve it!" everyone's mouths hung open. I don't think anyone has ever heard her speak up like this, she was usually quiet and submissive but now she was standing up to her sister and knowing Vitani this is not going to end well.

"Shut up!" Vitani's voice rose above the chattering. She pinned Tiifu to the ground standing above her baring her teeth.

I stood up hesitating whether I should interfere or not it's up to their parents to solve this kind of situations but if things get out hand I will step in. "Go get Tama and Malka" I say to Nuka and he abides.

"You know its true Vitani! I mean look at you right now, you're nothing big bully and that's why Kopa broke up with you" Tiifu yelled back. I knew about Kopa and Vitani even if my son never told me personally and I was never really happy with their relationship Vitani always seemed to be trying to control and dominate my son just like she does with her sister.

"And you sure are happy he did, aren't you?" the older sister growled

"What are you talking about?" the younger one asked.

"How stupid do you think I am?!" Vitani growled "I know you want Kopa for yourself, you like him. You always want to take everything away from me!"

"You're crazy Vitani! Get off me!" Tiifu yelled struggling under her sister's hold.

"Admit it Tiifu!" Vitani yelled back

"Fine I do! I like him and I think he likes me back because I'm not crazy like you!" Tiifu admitted and Vitani began unsheathing her claws around her throat with a low growl, that's a red flag right there this girl is extremely aggressive.

"That's enough Vitani!" I pushing her of her sister and standing aside when their parents ran inside the den.

"Vitani, why did you attack her?" Malka asked as he helped his youngest daughter up

"What is the matter with you?" Tama demanded

"Of course, you two always defend your pretty daughter" Vitani sneered

"Vitani, you attacked your sister" her mother stated losing her temper

"She's no sister of mine!" Vitani snarled

"Vitani" Malka standing in the middle of the two sisters "what is going on?"

"Ask her" she snapped "You're a traitor and I hate you, I wish you were never born" She narrowed her eyes at her younger sister before pushing past her and leaving the den.

"I don't know what she's talking about" Tiifu answered in her usual soft-spoken voice, as her parents rubbed her back and nuzzled her comfortingly.

I went back outside and sat for a while witnessing that really got me thinking, what if Kion and Kopa got in a fight out there they could seriously injure each other or hurt Kiara if she tries to break of the fight? They have gotten into pretty serious altercations before…No, no Nala come on they would never do that they have a little more sense than that, I need to have faith on them and trust Simba when he says that being out there will bring them closer together and help them grow up and stop them to getting to Vitani's and Tiifu's level of sibling rivalry. That's my rational side but my maternal side is worried and just wants to have her cubs back in her arms and cradle them close to me as I did the day they were born.

**Simba's point of view**

"What's troubling you angel?" I asked my wife nuzzling her cheek gently; she was sitting outside the den staring off to the distance with her eyebrows scrunched. She shook her head and turned to me with a tiny smile.  
>"I'm just thinking about the cubs" she replied nuzzling me back<br>"They'll be three years old in a few months; they're not exactly cubs anymore" I chuckled sitting next to her  
>"I know… I just- I'm worried" she sighs resting her head on my shoulder<p>

"Bumi sent a messenger bird today" I tell her and she whips her head up to look at me

"And?" she asked concerned "Are they okay? Are they with Bumi now?"

"They arrived a little later than expected but they're okay" I smile licking her nose "are you less worried now?"

"Yes… but I still miss them" she sighs pressing her forehead against mine "that's one of the downsides of having triplets that no one tells you about, they all grow up at the same time and you are left with and empty nest"  
>"We could refill the nest if you want" I say wiggling my eyebrows jokingly, I already knew she didn't wanted any more cubs believe me I asked her before I've always loved the idea of a big family with me being an only child and all but she was unanimous when she said no she refused to go through a rough pregnancy again and I couldn't ask her to do so if she didn't wanted to but this time she actually paused and seemed to give it thought before answering "Tempting offer...but three is more than enough for me" she says<p>

"Is it because I'm getting old?" I joke

"You are not old, because that would mean I'm old and that's just impossible" she says matter-of-factly

"You're right we're on our prime, we're only seven. lucky seven" I say wrapping my arm around her and pulling her closer

"We're seven alright. but you're not getting lucky, at least not today" she smirked pushing me away

"but-" I pout and she points up to an approaching Zazu, she laughed shaking her head at the obvious disappointment in my face as I muttered "not Zazu…"

"Your majesty, king Kovu is here for your meeting" Zazu announced bowing before us

"Wanna come with me?" I ask Nala and she agrees to join me "where are you meeting with him?" she asks as we walk with Zazu flying ahead of us

"Around the waterhole" I answer

"The waterhole? Why do you always invite guests to there? What's so great about the waterhole?" she raises an eyebrow at me and I chuckle

"What's so bad about the waterhole?" I ask her before leaning closer and whisper "Are still afraid of water La?"

"I was never afraid" she says through gritted teeth

"Oh yes you were and you probably still are" I laughed and she narrowed her eyes at me

"Just look at you two, after all these years you still look like the lovesick Cubs" he beamed landing in front of us "and if you don't mind me saying it sire, I told you so" the hornbill winked at me

I chuckled at the memories and shook my head; Nala turned her head sideways curious "he said that since we were betrothed at birth our hearts and destinies would forever be intertwined" I said imitating Zazu's demeanor and she giggled

"I do not sound like that" Zazu huffed rolling his eyes "but anyways, sire we must move on. King Kovu is expecting you"

We hurried to meet Kovu and start the meeting, and after discussing the young king the most urgent topics he was ready to leave but he asked "did Kion, Kopa and Kiara arrived to their destination safety?"

"Yes, they did" Nala smiled

"I'm glad to hear that" he smiled back

"How did you know they we're away?" I ask

"I saw them a couple of days ago, sire" he answered "I found princess Kiara unconscious while I was patrolling my borders and then helped her reunite with her brothers"

"You seem to really enjoy helping others, specially my daughter" I raise an eyebrow at him

"I'd do anything to keep that smile on her beautiful face" he said with a goofy smile on his face and I cleared my throat narrowing my eyes at him "I-I mean... Our prides are allies…. I also wanted to help prince Kion and Kopa because…I like helping others" he said nervously

"Well thank you for helping them" Nala bowed her head "I'm sure you did bring a smile to Kiara's face"

"She's a very special girl" he nods smiling

"She is indeed. She's my little girl" I grumble and Nala rolls her eyes at me

"King Simba… "The young lion cleared his throat "Pardon me for daring but I would like to ask for your permission to visit the princess when she returns"

At this point my blood was boiling but I decided to stay calm, but oh if we weren't kings, thing would be different I would kick him out right away and make sure to keep him away from Kiara… I don't really know what to do he caught me off guard "I'll think about it and let you know" I say, and without further conversation we bid him farewell and I was left alone with my wife who I knew could tell I was aggravated by kovu's request when she came nudged me out of my thoughts.

"Simba" she chuckled softly "it's not the end of the world"

"I will not allow this, he will not take her away from us" I said firmly and he rolled her eyes yet again

"Do you want to be like my father, controlling evil and ruin your daughter's chance at finding love?" she asked and I shook my head no "he's a nice young lion, smart, a king and he just want to get to know her" She's right. He's not some punk trying to get with my daughter, he's a king and decent young lion and at least he's asking for my permission and I don't want to make decisions for her but still …

"She's too young…" I sigh

"You said it yourself their not exactly cubs anymore" she shrugged "when we were her age we were already engaged and I was already pregnant"

"That was a different situation" I huff

"She likes him, and he likes her. Get used to it" she smirks


	32. Chapter 32

**Chapter 32**

**A week later**

**Kiara's point of view**

I went hunting with cousin Kya today, just the two of us since today is sadly is my last day here. Though I just met her a week ago I feel like I've known her my whole life the way she carries herself reminds me of my grandmother Sarabi and now that I think about it she looks a lot like her too the same facial features and built, she's though but caring and encouraging she's like the older sister I always wanted.

We were on the grasslands and I was stalking the herds, Kya wanted a demonstration and I was determined to show her that I'm not as bad my brothers say I am. I came out of my hiding spot and the animals began running in all directions I had targeted a zebra on my left but when I was in front of it I got intimidated by its size and in my moment of hesitation it ran a way, then a gazelle run past me I pounced on it.

"Good job Kiara" she smiled when I walked back to her with a gazelle on my jaws "but I thought you were going for the zebra"

"Oh …yeah but I can't take down zebra" I said setting it down

"Of course you can," she countered "it got away because you hesitated" my cousin explains while we start eating "you just have to know what you want and be confident enough to go and get it, just like with everything else in life"

"Yeah well I don't even know what I want, just like with everything else in life" I scoffed "I wish I did though, like my brothers or you…"

"You'll know someday" she says

"Have you always been sure what you wanted?" I ask her, seems like everyone in my family is sure of their destiny except me.

"Yes" she nodded "I wanted to be queen, lead the hunting party, the guard and marry the lion of my dreams"

"So you went and got it" I giggle "when are you and Hakim getting married?"

"In a couple of months, and I expect you and your brothers to be here" Kya raised an eyebrow and I nodded "what about you? Do you ever want to get married?"

"I never really thought about marriage until…" I say and a small smile comes to my face and my cousin gives me a knowing look

"Oh so there is a guy…" she smiles "do you wanna marry him?"

"Well I don't know I've never even had a boyfriend before, I think never met the right guy but Kovu…" I sigh

"Kovu?!" she asks surprised "king Kovu?" I nod my head and she continues "well sure have good taste Kiara; he came for a meeting with my father, He's a real gentlemen and a sweetheart not to mention good-looking"

"He is" I say feeling blood rushing to my face "but I don't even know if he feels the same way and besides daddy would kill me if he knew I like Zambra's son"

"Well you know what I would do?" she asks with a smirk

"Go and get it!" the two of us say at the same time and laugh

**Kopa's point of view**

"Ready for the announcement?" I asked my anxious brother as he paced back and forth "nervous?"

"I'm not nervous!" he scoffed "well maybe a little…"

"Nervous about whom you chose? Or are nervous about the announcement?" I raised an eyebrow at him and his eyes widen

"Why would I be nervous about that?" he asked looking away

"Maybe because you hate public speaking and the whole kingdom will be there and -" I say with a grin and he sighs loudly

"Fine, yes I'm nervous!" he says irritated

"I knew it" I smirk and he rolls his eyes "look all you have to do is use that huge ego of yours and speak with confidence and from the heart"

"I've been training to lead the guard my whole life and this is it; my first and most important decision, what if I ruin this?" he said with a concerned look

"I have faith in your judgment" I said putting my paw on his shoulder but he kept his gaze down "I… I'm proud of you Kion, you've done a great job you've earned the respect and loyalty of the recruits, you're a true leader"

"Thanks brother" he looked up at me with a smile

"Come on, let's go" I say "everyone is waiting for you" as we made our way to the top I saw the recruits standing in the front row with expectant and nervous looks on their faces, you could tell that they really wanted this and I applaud their determination but Kion will have to choose the fastest, strongest and bravest from the group of recruits that means only three out of the eight lions will earn themselves a place in the guard.

"Today we bid farewell not only to the Pridelands royal family, but also to three outstanding members of our pride for today prince Kion will announce the new members of the lion guard" uncle Bumi announced to the crowd

"Please take a step forward when if you hear your name being called, May the kings be with you all" Kya announced, It was Kion's turn to speak he turned to us we gave him and encouraging smile, he took a deep breath and stepped forward

"For his undeniable courage in all situations, I name Jasiri the bravest" my brother announced and the small blonde manned lion stepped forward and Kion puts his paw on his shoulder giving him official marking of the lion guard

"For his indisputable physical power, I name Zuberi the strongest" he continues and the muscular lion stands before us and proudly accepts his marking

"For his incomparable speed, endurance and agility, I name Haraka the fastest of them all" when the thin lion with a light brown has received his marking Kion continues "I am the fiercest, and we are the lion guard" he announces and the crowd cheers. looking at my brother right now the way he's standing, the way he speaks and even the way he looks with his muscular frame and his red mane slicked back and fierce amber eyes shows me what a real pridelander King looks like and here I am tall and athletic but a lot leaner than him with a light brown tousled mane and greenish blue eyes less than impressive sight to see.

"In the name of my father king Simba and my mother queen Nala, I would like to thank our sister prides for welcoming me and my brothers with open arms" Kiara spoke once the cheers died down and I stepped forward

"Long live the Waira lands, long live king Bumi and princess Kya!" I say with fake enthusiam and the crowd echoes my words. After the new members of the lion said goodbye to their parents and we said goodbye to our uncle and cousin we headed out and began our journey back home. Going back I feel like I've changed so much in one week and so have my siblings over all I had a good time but this also made me see the harsh reality, I'm not ready to rule and I'm not sure I ever will be.

**Kion's point of view **

And we're on the road again! Everything went well and that whole public speaking thing wasn't that bad. I'm pretty happy with my decision, Jasiri, Haraka, and Zuberi are the perfect guys for the job and I'm sure one we're back and we add Nuka to the mix we'll be unstoppable.

We crossed the desert very quickly this time around; it only took us a day to find our way back to the jungle

"We'll camp here for the night" I said to the guys

"Is there some place we can get water here? My mouth is dryer than the desert we just crossed" Haraka says looking around

"I could have a sip or two myself" Zuberi ads

"I could drink a whole Lake" Jasiri exclaims

"There's a river down that path" Kiara giggles motioning towards the narrow path that led to the waterfall.

"With your permission your highness princess Kiara of the Pridelands" Haraka bows his long shaggy mane covering his face "we would like to go have some water" my sisters raises an eyebrow ant turns to me with a questioning look

"Stop it, you're not doing it the right way" Jasiri nudges his friend with his light furred paw

"You're embarrassing us" Zuberi says rolling his grey eyes

"I'm just trying to show respect" Haraka shrugged

"Just call me Kiara" my sister sighs annoyed, she only allowed dad to call her princess "and you should ask your leader not me" they turned to me expectantly and I chuckled

"Go ahead guys and feel free to look around just remember to stick together" I said and they saluted me before running off down the path.

"Fiercest guard ever" Kiara smirked

"Shut up" I say "it's their first day"

"Nuka has been in the guard for a while and he still asks for your permission every time he wants to scratch himself" she laughs and I chuckle remembering of the keenest of sight he wasn't the brightest guy out there but he was my friend.

"Uh remember when you tried to make those other animals part of the guard and daddy freaked out?" she added, this girl loves to give me a hard time…

"Yeah 'cause you told him and he lectured me for hour about our traditions" I shot her a glare "I still think they would've done a great job"

"You would've wreck the Pridelands before Kopa even got to be king, right koko?" she asked our brother who was staring off with a vacant look on his face

"Uh huh…" he nodded

"What's eating you Kopa?" Kiara asks him

"Nothing we're on top of the food chain" I joke and they just stare at me, I clear my throat and put on a serious face "is there anything wrong?"

"I've been thinking…" he starts "and I've decided to abdicate the throne"

"WHAT?!" Kiara and I exclaimed


	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter 33**

**Kion's point of view **

I couldn't tell you how happy I was when I saw pride rock and then my parents waiting for us by the borders. After greeting them, my siblings and I went our separate ways I gave the newcomers a quick tour and introduced them to the pride, I went to where my friends were sitting "Nuka, I want you to meet Zuberi, Jasiri and Haraka" I said to him and he stood up from his spot to greet them, I then turned to them and said "guys, this is Nuka the keenest of sight"

"Welcome to the lion guard" Nuka said

"Um Nuka, aren't you going to introduce me?" Zuri asked

"Oh this is my girlfriend Zuri" he said smiling goofily at the blue-eyed lioness

"Nice…" I said to Nuka high pawing him, Zuri's mother Tika had been trying to set us up together for a while but I knew she liked Nuka and he liked her and it was a matter of time before they got together.

"Nice to meet you guys. Allow me to introduce these three beautiful ladies; Rani, Sita, Vitani and Tiifu" Zuri said motioning toward them and leading towards the guys and whispering "they're all single and would love to show you guys around" I glared at Zuri and for some reason so did Tiifu.

"We would love that" Haraka grinned pairing up with Rani

"That would be really nice" Jasiri said smiling at Sita

Zuberi turned to Tiifu but Vitani pushed past her to get to him "excuse me little sis"

"Let's just start the tour" Sita rolled her eyes

"Yeah come on!" Rani said exited

"Seems she's over it already, just like Kopa" I said to Tiifu as the seven of them started walking away

"What?" she asked with wide eyes and I raised an eyebrow at her because of the obvious happiness in her face from hearing me say that "I um… I have to go…" She said before running off. I just shrugged it off sitting there with my damaged ego first the desert lioness and now this.

"Hey little brother" my sister greeted happily

"Hey" I said drily "why are you so happy?"

"Because mom just told that Kovu asked for their permission to visit me and mom got daddy to agree" she squealed "that means he likes, isn't it great?"

"Yeah just great" I said not reflecting her excitement

"And why are you so miserable?" she scoffed

"Rani and Sita practically dumped me when they Jasiri and Haraka!" I protested

"So they finally had enough of you" she laughed loudly

"How can someone have enough of me?" I scoffed "I'm handsome, I'm prince, leader of the lion guard and I'm the fiercest animal in the Pridelands!"

"But you're also egotistical, emotionally unavailable and have severe commitment issues" she smirked

"Whatever" I muttered looking away and she ruffled my mane

"It's okay Kion, not every lion can be as perfect as Kovu" she says giggling, oh kings have mercy.

**Kopa's point of view**

I walked aimlessly greeting members of the pride as I passed by them hoping I wouldn't run into a certain lioness that I'm sure still resented me and hoping I would instead casually run into her sister but my parents stopped me and asked to speak with me "Is there something wrong?" I ask sitting in front of them

"That's what we wanted to ask you sweetie" mom said giving me a concerned look

"Your brother and sister told us about you wanting to abdicate, is it true?" dad asked and I sighed. You can always count on Kion and Kiara to spill the beans, I wanted to find a better moment to talk to them but I guess it's now or never "yes, I've thinking about it" I admitted "I don't think I would make a good king and the Pridelands deserve the best"

"Kopa, it's okay to be nervous or afraid, I know I was when I was when I was your age" dad told me putting his paw on my shoulder

"You will be a great king" mom says "you've been preparing for this your whole life"

"But that's the problem mamma, I've been preparing my whole life and I still don't feel ready" I exclaimed "I'm just not ready to be king right now and I don't know if i ever will" I insist

"you don't have to become king right away" mom says nuzzling me "you're still young but eventually you'll feel ready, but in the meantime I think you need some time off to relax and enjoying yourself"

"you have been working hard son, harder than I ever did and honestly I feel like you put too much pressure on yourself" my father says "so take some time off, think about it and we'll talk about it again next year, okay?"

"Okay" I agree and the two give me a hug

Feeling a lot better I decided to resume my search and to my joy she ran into me

"Kopa you're back" Tiifu's sweet voice exclaimed

"I am!" I smiled but then I noticed that one of her front paws had a cut in them

"What happened?" I ask holding her paw carefully and examining the cut

"Uh… nothing I-I was hunting and…" she pulled her paw away nervously

"Your sister did it, didn't she?" I sigh

"Yeah… and I kind of deserve it this time" she said ashamed

"Nothing justifies her being violent towards you" I tell her and she sighs

"I said some awful things to her" she closed her green eyes

"Like what?" I question turning my head to the side; I find it hard to believe that Tiifu the sweetest lioness I know could ever say something mean

"I told her I was glad you broke up with her because she's mean and a bully and that she deserves it" I watched her silently and continued "and the worst part is I don't regret it I meant it"

"Do you?" I asked and she nodded slowly

"You need deserve someone loving, caring and caring" she said softly and looking down at her paws "someone that understands how lucky she would be to have you, someone... "

"Like you?" I murmured regretting it almost immediately until she looked up at me and nodded her head

"I would be lucky to have you" I whispered nuzzling her

"But it wouldn't be right…you and my sister-" she shook her head taking a step back

"Are no longer together" I told her and then sighed in defeat "but you're right… we shouldn't-"

"Maybe in time we could…" she says barely above a whisper

"it's worth the wait" I smile and nuzzle me tenderly before her piercing green eyes meet mine as she returns the smile.

**Kion's point of view**

I decided to go patrolling the borders to distract myself; the guys were still on their 'tour' with the girls so my siblings insisted on coming with me

"So you have a year to decide?" Kiara asked after Kopa told us about his talk with mom and dad

"A year to have fun" I smirked "maybe you should go after that girl you like but don't want to tell us about" I say and Kiara giggles and he walks faster ahead of us

"You can't fool us!" Kiara runs after him and he picks up his pace not caring that we had already crossed the borders "Just tell us who it is Kopa!"

"Yeah Kopa!" I rushing after them "who's the lucky girl?"

He suddenly halted and gasped "Livy!"

"Livy?" Kiara and I echoed confused

"Kopa…" a weak voice called my brother rushed in its direction and there laying on the ground was a lioness about our age I stood there taking staring at her she had caramel color fur and stormy grey eyes the rest of features were soft her nose was light pink…she's breathtaking, she's-

"She's unconscious!" Kiara exclaimed and I snapped back to reality

"Kion, help me carry her back home" my brother said and I rushed to his side "Kiara, go get Rafiki"

We carried her home and sat her down carefully and she groaned opening her eyes and looking up at me "am I in the Pridelands?" she asked

"Yes you are and you're safe now, our shaman is coming to check on you" I answered

"Livy what happened?" Kopa asked "where are your parents?"

"They're dead…" her voice cracked "a rogue ambushed me one day and he tried to mate with me but I screamed and my parents tried to defend me but he killed them both and I ran all the way to here so I could get away from him" Kopa exchanged sorrowful looks as she cried I instinctively nuzzled her and she pulled me in to a hug and I rubbed her back, I'm not the most affectionate lion but hope it will comfort her enough.

Rafiki arrived and while he examined her, my brother and I waited nearby and then we were joined by our parents and Kiara "Her name is Libya. She and her parents were nomads and they shared their food with me when were in the desert. Dad she has nowhere to go…" Kopa said

"Of course she can stay here son" dad smiled

"She will recover soon" Rafiki said walking towards us "she just needs rest, water and food"

"I'll make sure she gets them" I say, from now on my priority is to make sure she's okay.

**Kopa's point of view**

The past few weeks have been different to say the least for the first time I have some spare time to just relax in my mini vacation but today he called me for a brotherly talk and truth be told my mind was elsewhere on a beautiful lioness called Tiifu. oh Tiif she makes me feel loved and oh so happy I swear I never knew how special a lioness could make you feel...

"Kopa" Kion called snapping me back to reality "I'm suffering here brother, I think might be coming down with something maybe I should go see Rafiki"

"Calm down" I chuckled at my anxious brother passing inside the den "There's nothing wrong with you Kion"

"There is something wrong! I can't stop thinking about her and I don't care about any other girl,when I close my eyes all I see is her face and I have this urgency to protect her and just hold her close to me…" he sighed and a goofy grin came to his face and I snorted "I'm feeling…you gotta help me brother, make it stop"

"I thought you were the expert, you've been with a bunch of girls" I shrug

"But I've never been…in…" he started

"In love?" I ask

"See? I can't even say it, you have been" true but not with the girl he's thinking about but I'm still no expert "what should I do?"

"You should talk to dad, from what I've heard he was in a similar situation once" I suggest

"Talk to me about what?" dad said walking in with a smirk accompanied by mom and Kiara

"Kion's in love with Livy" I grin and my brother glares at me and I continue to torment him "History its repeating itself a philandering prince finally finds the lioness of his dreams and she makes him want to be a better lion"

"Aw" we all say at the same time and Kion closes his eyes embarrassed

"Whatever I just wanted some advice" me muttered "But dad ended up marrying that lioness!"

"That should tell you something!" I say nudging him

"Livy and Kion sitting in the tree, K-i-s-s-i-n-g! First comes love. Then comes marriage..." Kiara laughs

"But I don't… I can't…" kion murmurs

"The only advice I can give you is to not fight it" dad smiled nuzzling mom and I could see the horror on his face

* * *

><p><em><strong>hello beautiful readers just a quick note to inform you that this story is coming to an end, there's only a couple of chapters left, if it was up to me this story would never end but I don't want to bore you guys, let me know what you think.<strong>_

_**I will be posting again soon so stay tuned!**_


	34. Chapter 34

_**one more chapter after this one, let's go!**_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 34<strong>

**Six months later**

**Kiara's point of view**

Months passed and Kovu was slowly becoming a part of the family and our crush developed in to love and every few days I got to spend the entire day with him when he visited. Today was one of those days I ran to meet him halfway in the grasslands, we laughed as I pounced pinning him down "Have you come to take me home with you?" I ask dramatically letting him up

"Unfortunately, I can't kidnap the princess of the Pridelands" he said and I make sad face until he starts talking again "I can however ask you to marry me instead and hope you will accept" I gasped and he came closer to me gazing at me lovingly before asking "Kiara, will you be my wife?"

"Yes!" I cried nuzzling him

He pulled back and said "I would like to speak to your father so we can make it official"

my entire family gathered my both of my grandmother sitting by, my brothers standing to each side of my parents my uncle Ehsan and his wife Yue were there too, listening to what Kovu had to say but he was so nervous I guess he was still a bit intimidated by them anyways he was stumbling with his words and he wasn't making any sense so I stepped in took in a deep breath and just said it "daddy, Kovu and I love each other and would like to get your permission to marry" my brothers and my uncle's jaws dropped and my mom, aunt, grandmothers smiled but daddy didn't reacted

"Is that so?" he asked aproching Kovu

"Y-yes sir… I love Kiara and I want to marry her" Kovu said nervously

My father turned to me with a thoughtful face I looked up pleadingly at him and he sighed "it breaks my heart to know that my little princess is going away, but your happiness is much more important to me than my own" he said lowly "so you have my permission" I squealed gaving him a hug "I love you princess" he said nuzzling me

"I love you too daddy" I say and then he turned to Kovu

"I'm still keeping an eye on you" dad says very seriously

"We all are" Kion stepped in in and Kovu only smiled nervously as the four males narrowed their eyes at him

Mom rolled her eyes and ran to hug me "congratulations sweetie!"

"We have to start planning the wedding" grandma Sarafina said "oh a royal wedding after all these years!"

"and a coronation!" grandma Sarabi added almost fighting back tears "my Kiki...you're going to be a queen" I guess I will be… but being queen consort is not as hard as being the heir to the throne, is it?

"When will it?" mom asked "and where?"

"We can have the wedding here, as long as my mother is here I'm fine" Kovu said

"It should be in a month from now" my amber eyed grandma said

"Oh yes the impala lilies will be in bloom it will be perfect" my mom's mom said

"Fine with me" Kovu smiled and everyone turned to me my mind was still buzzing over the world queen and I wasn't paying attention but I nodded anyways

"It's settled then! You'll be married in a month" my mother said, well there's no turning back, in a month from now I'll become the queen of the of the Aduli pride.

**A month later**

**Kopa's point of view**

my siblings are busier than ever, Kion keeps busy with the guard running around the Pridelands but he still finds time to spend with his girlfriend Libya, as for Kiara she's been following mom around and seeing what it's like to be a queen and I could've sat back and watch as she tried to learn in a month what took me years but because in such a good brother I've been helping her, but since her wedding is tomorrow and they're distracted I decided to sneak away to spend time with Tiifu. We still haven't told anyone about us, it's up to Tiifu really I don't particularly care what others will think of us being together I only my family's opinion matters to me and I know they would approve of her.

"Kopa" Tiifu called and I snapped back to reality we were in a cave we found one day eating together

"What did you say sweetie?" I asked her

"I asked if you want to know what I overheard today" she repeated herself as she groomed my mane

"Tiif you were spying on them? You need to stop hanging out with Kiara her nosiness is rubbing on you" I smirk

"I was not" she giggled "they were just talking too loud"

"Let's hear it then" I chuckle

"My sister and Zuberi were fighting outside the den and then stormed off and daddy went to her and asked 'so what now? How are you going to fix this?'" she said trying to make her voice sound deep like Malka's and I chuckled and she went on "and Vitani said 'what is there to fix? This wasn't a mistake; I knew exactly what I was doing!'" This time she said imitating Vitani's raspy voice and then continued switching back to her father "and he said 'I doubt that Vitani, you're much too young and with Zuberi gone you're on your own!' and then Vitani growled at him and said 'I DON'T NEED HIM, I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF AND ANYONE ELSE THAT COMES ALONG' and then she left" she finished with her normal voice

"Well… that was an interesting story; the impressions were the best part. You're very talented" I laughed licking her head

"Don't you get it Kopa?" she rolled her eyes playfully

"What" I asked clueless

"Vitani is pregnant with Zuberi's cub!" she said and I'm sure my eyes were as big as the moon right now

I still didn't know how to respond to the news so I stared at her in silence for a moment "well it seems she was fine with the whole thing…"

"That's just Vitani acting tough, I wish I could help her somehow…" she sighed sadly, you know that's what so amazing about Tiifu all her life Vitani treated her awfully and has hurt her many times in many ways yet she decided to hide our relationship from her to not hurt her sister despite how badly she wanted to make it public and now she's so concerned for her that shows you how big her heart is.

"The only thing you can do is be there for her" I say and she nods sadly, I nuzzle her and she looks up at me "I've been meaning to ask you if you would like to go the wedding with me, you know like a date" She looked up at me with her beautiful emerald eyes gleaming with joy "if you don't being seen with me that is"

"Of course not" she nuzzles me and whispers "nothing would make me prouder than being seen with the lion I love"

"You love me?" I ask and she looked down bashfully and with a smile I put my paw under her chin so she will look at me

"I love you too" I tell her "With all my heart…"

**The next day**

**Kion's point of view**

Kiara was getting married today and pride rock was packed with guest Kovu and his mother and aunts arrived today and uncle Bumi, cousin Kya, her husband Hakim and their cub Pema arrived yesterday, after the ceremony and the feast is over everyone will go home and that includes my sister. I can't believe she's leaving…I can't believe she will be queen of the Aduli pride…. "I can't believe she's getting married" I lowly and I can't help my voice cracking with emotion and Kopa who was sitting next to me puts his paw on my shoulder I immediately clear my throat and play it off by teasing him "before you! I mean I always thought you would be the first one to get hitched"

He chuckles shaking his head at me "If you don't hurry, I will beat you to be the second one"

"I'm in no hurry, you don't even have a girlfriend" I smirk as Libya comes to sit on my other side nuzzling me

"Says who?" he smirks back as Tiifu approaches him and rubs her head under his chin "hey sweetie" he says licking her forehead. "Wanna tell Kion and Livy the good news?" my brother says and she giggles before turning to us

"Kopa and I are getting married" the green eyes lioness says with a smile, Livy gasps and hugs her congratulating them and I just stand there shocked

"What? Wait a second… are you two together?" I ask

"Yes, we've been together for almost 8 months now" Kopa answers simply smiling at Tiifu

"Why didn't I know about this? You lied to me!" I demand "it's not fair Kopa, I tell you everything!"

"Every personal detail even if I don't want to know…" my brother mutters and Libya raises an eyebrow at me I only laugh nervously shaking my head until Tiifu saves my life

"Livy, will you come with me to see Kiara?" she offers. My girlfriend accepts and they leave me and brother alone

"you know I like her already, she has my back... but why didn't you tell me?" I ask again and he sighs

"I proposed to her last night and mom and dad just learned about it this morning" he says "We never told anyone before, because of the whole Vitani thing

"Oh right!" I say coming to a realization and then my face turns to a smirk "you know you are just as bad as me now, mister high morals and values"

"What are you talking about?" he asks looking at me funny

"You said it was messed up to date both Rani and Sita because they're were sisters" I say "and now you've dated sisters as well"

"But not both at the same time!" he snaps and I laugh

"You're still as sly me" I smirk and he covers his face embarrassed

"That is exactly why I didn't wanted to tell you specifically" he grumbles and I keep laughing "and you probably would've told everyone in the Pridelands"

"Now wait a second that would've been Kiara" I protest and then we both hear our father's roar calling to start the ceremony

"Does she know?" I ask him as we walk

"Yeah, I told her when I told mom and dad" he answers as Tiifu and Livy come back to our sides

"Oh! So you told her first? Now I see who your favorite sibling is" I say looking away from him pretending to be hurt

"You weren't there at the moment" he rolled his eyes and then leaned closer to whisper "and I didn't want to interrupt whatever it is you and Livy were doing…"

I laughed and Livy elbowed me hard and Kopa and I turned our heads to the front to see dad and Kiara glaring at us, the ceremony stared and finished pretty quickly we went to congratulate our sister and ugh I can't believe I'm saying this… new brother-in-law. When the feast was done and it was time for them to leave, Vitani pushed through the crowd to get to us; she bowed her head and said "I would like to congratulate… all of you" her eyes scanning all the couples there from Kopa and Tiifu and Kopa on the far right to Kovu and Kiara and then she continued "and request that you allow me to travel with you to the Aduli pride and become a part of your pride king Kovu"

I glanced at Kopa and Tiifu and they both looked down at the ground, Kovu glanced at Kiara and then at my father and he nodded "of course" Kovu said "we'll be leaving in a moment" ´

"Great thank you your majesties" she said and bowed again.

My family cried the whole time while we were saying goodbye to Kiara, I held back my tears until she turned her back on us and started fading away on the horizon. Kiki was married now and the queen of another great kingdom, koko was engaged and in a few months he will be married as well and will be king of the Pridelands as for me… well the stars will tell.


	35. Chapter 35

**Chapter 35**

**A year later **

**Kiara's point of view**

A lot has happened this past year, since I left Kion has been leading the lion guard and doing a great job at keeping everyone safe and I hear he and Libya are very happy together, she's got him smitten and I'm surprised they're not married yet but I'm sure they will soon. I wasn't expecting Kopa's engagement to Tiifu but I'm glad he's with her, they make a great couple and tomorrow they will become king and queen, as for me well I'm almost three months pregnant but Kovu and I are still making it to Kopa's coronation

"Mom, dad!" I called rushing to greet my family when I saw them waiting by the border, the last time I saw my family was when I announced my pregnancy and I'm not gooing to lie I missed them and I wished they were with me all the time specially mom I could use her advise back home, she never mentioned how hard being a queen and a wife was and now that I'm abouot to become a mother I assume it will only get harder so I will make the most out of my time here to learn from her and to spend time with her, my father, my brothers and my friends. I'm making it sounds like I hate living at the Aduli lands but I really don't the pride was very welcoming and my pridesisters make me feel at home, not to mentioon that I have a wonderful husband that love's me to the moon and back but can be a little overprotective especially now that I'm pregnant.

"Kiara, wait don't run!" Kovu called trying to stop me.

"Kovu, I walked all the here nothing's going to happen" I rolled her eyes at my mate after hugging my parents

"Yeah Kovu, let her run she could use the exercise…" Kopa said approaching me with a smirk, I swatted my paw at his now full tousled brunette mane and he dodged it

"I'ts called being pregnant" I roll my eyes

"no, it's called stop eating so much buffalo before you become one" Kion added and the two brothers laughed. sometimes I miss the times when they hated each other and argued all the time, at least then they wouldn't team up at tease me.

"Boys…" dad said in a serious tone causing them to straighten up, Kopa cleared his throat and Kion combed back his crimson mane

"No, let them laugh daddy" I shrugged before smiling smugly at my brothers "they won't be laughing when they mates get as big as I am" their eyes widen and we all laughed except them "just give me a hug you dung Beatles" I said before me and my siblings embraced.

After that we all went to the den and the whole family gathered together "Are you ready for tomorrow Kopa?" Kovu asked

"Yes sir" he nodded with a smile nuzzling Tiifu

"Are you two ready for the cub?" my sister-in-law asked

"I am. I can't wait to meet him or her" the young king said smiling at me and I nodded along looking down at my belly

"Have you decided on names?" My mom asked

"We wanted to name cub Ahadi if it's a male" Kovu said

"And if it's a girl we want to name her Sarabi…" I added looking down at my paws sadly grandma Sarabi passed away not long after my wedding but I can still feel her love around me.

"She would be honored" my grandmother Sarafina choked out

"She definably would" smiled sadly and mom nuzzled him.

**Kion's point of view**

"Seeking counsel from the great kings again?" I ask my brother who was sitting outside under the stars

"Yeah… I'm a little nervous" he sighs as Kiara and I sit next to him

"So you decided to come out here to speak to the stars instead of your siblings?" Kiara says and he chuckles

"The stars won't make fun of me or tease me" he said

"Good point" I agree and Kiara rolls her eyes

"It's okay to be nervous, but you should be excited" Kiara tells Kopa with a reassuring smile, my sister has changed in the past year she has soften up a bit and is a lot more understanding and caring maybe it's the fact she's about to be a mother herself but she's a lot more like mom now. "Everyone in the Pridelands is excited for you"

"Yeah, you'll do just fine brother" I say before yawning

"You look exhausted Kion" Kiara says concerned

"Well I've been busy with the guard specially with the Furaha lands, it's too far away from pride rock for us to keep an eye on it at all time someone needs to be guarding those lands constantly or rogues will invade it" I explain "You know it's like no matter how hard I work there's always someone that needs help or to be rescued or something to do and because of that Livy thinks I don't spend enough time with her, uncle Ehsan thinks I don't spend enough time with the guard and mom and dad think I don't spend enough time with the family; no matter what I do someone is always disappointed" my siblings exchanged concerned looks

"I think you're doing a great job Kion and I believe you deserve more recognition for it" my sister says and I sigh, that's the one thing I never get being the leader of the lion guard is a thankless job.

"And you'll get it soon…" my brother absently said as if having a moment of realization

Kiara and I turned to him with a raised eyebrow but before I could say anything dad walked out of the den "what are you three doing out here?" he asked with a smile

"We were just talking daddy" Kiara smiling up at him

"Well it's getting late and tomorrow is very important day" dad said and we nodded

"We'll go inside in a moment" I say

"Alright" dad said agreed and turned to go back inside but stopped midway and turned to me "Kion, son did you finish patrol? We need to have the borders secured before sunrise" he asked, oh kings I forgot he asked me to do that.

"I'll do that now" I sighed getting up; I was tired and I wanted to go sleep but I rather stay up till late than getting up early.

"Dad… I actually wanted to talk to you about something. So maybe we can go check the borders together instead?" my brother asked

"Sure" our father agreed and turned to Kiara and me before leaving "don't stay out here all night you two"

"We won't" I promised as they left and then I turned to my sister

"I wonder what Kopa wants to talk to him about" she mused out loud

"Who knows, I'm just glad he had back for once" I said stretching

"He always has your back" Kiara says

"Yeah… he's a good brother" I agree yawning

"And I'm a good sister" she smiled

"Second best" I say and she raises an eyebrow "Tiifu might be my sister-in-law but she never physically abusive"

"Shut up" she says hitting me my arm

"Ouch!" I complain "you see?"

"You know that's how I show affection little brother" she smiles and I laugh

"I know…" I say "should I be concerned for your cubs wellbeing?" I ask and she laugs, don't tell her but I actualy missed having my sister around.

**Kopa's point of view **

"I know it's unexpected and sudden but I truly think it's a good idea, it' not an easy solution but it will be beneficial in the long run… for everyone involved" I explained to my father as we walked back home after checking the borders

"That's a wonderful idea son" my father nodded

"And with your blessing I would like to make it my first royal decree" I say

"You have my blessing and my support to see it through" he said with a smile "we can announce it tomorrow at the coronation"

The next morning Tiifu and I stood side by side as we roared announcing we were the new rulers and before I could announce my first royal decree the coronation ceremony was cut short when my sister went into labor, her screams rising above the cheering crowd alerted us all and the lionesses rushed her in to a den and went to get Rafiki while Kovu, my father, Kion, and I waited outside.

Kovu was passing nervously before us I could understand his uneasiness Kiara's been in there for a while and she's not full term yet so we were all concerned for her and the cub's wellbeing until after what felt like an eternity my mother's voice suddenly called "you may all come in now!" We all whipped our heads towards her relived to see a smile on her face, we followed mom inside where we were greeted by Tiifu and Libya, Kovu rushed to Kiara's side nuzzling her and gasping when she revealed two small cubs "twins!" Kovu exclaimed

"Congratulations!" dad smiled proudly looking down at Kiara

"We have our little Sarabi and little Ahadi" Kiara beamed, Kion and I got closer to our sister to get a better look at them Sarabi had light brown fur and green eyes and Ahadi had dark golden brown fur and red eyes

"You're uncles now" mom said to my brother and me

"We are!" he said exited and getting face to face with the newborns

"I want one of those…" Tiifu said loud enough for only me to hear and I nodded smiling as I started picturing what would our cub look like, I would be happy just to have her eyes on little me. I love my wife and I can't wait to start a family with her.

"I'm going to be their favorite uncle!" Kion announced loudly startling the cubs

"You're losing points already Kion" I couldn't help but to laugh at his panicked face when the cubs started crying

"Whatever, don't you have other things to do your majesty?" my brother rolled his amber eyes playfully

"As a matter of fact I do, and I need you come with me" I say to him

"Okay…" he groans and follows me outside the den

"Last night you brought my attention to the problems we're having at the Furaha lands and I think I just came up with the perfect solution" I say and he listens on "from now on Kion you will rule over the Furaha lands"

**Simba's point of view**

As soon as Kiara and the cubs were strong enough to leave the den we all traveled to the Furaha lands there we were welcomed by Kya and his family and all the animals "this is it son" I said to him "this is your kingdom"

"I never thought I would be king" he said taking in a deep breath bracing himself for his coronation and wedding.

"We have come together today to announce the new king and queen of these lands" Kopa speaks as Kion and Libya take a step forward "Kion and Libya, busa ngo xolo busa ngo thando" he told them to 'rule with peace and love' before the new rulers roared and the crowd cheered.

"Today a new alliance between the Furaha lands, the Pridelands, the Aduli lands And the Waira lands begins a new era of peace and harmony between the United Kingdoms" Kopa's idea was simple yet brilliant, appointing his brother as king and creating a formal alliance between the four prides known as the United Kingdoms.

Kopa, Kiara and Kion together up there all grown up and standing regally next to their mates a powerful ruler with their life's ahead of them was precious sight for this proud father, I glance at Nala and she has happy tears in her eyes and a proud smile on her face. I nuzzle her and smile as I remember the day they were born and how my father said that there can never be a throne for three but it turns out that there was a throne for the three.

**A/N**

**well this is it friends thank you for taking this journey with me and these characers I hope you enjoyed this story, there will be more coming soon I promise!**

**love**

**-az**


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